King Lear

Brian Blessed plays the bard's tired monarch in this British-made filming of the timeless Shakespeare tragedy, the story of a king who laments how "sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." When his initial plan to divide his kingdom equally among his three daughters goes bitterly awry, Lear banishes one daughter, is betrayed by the remaining two, and eventually goes raving mad. Phillipa Peak, Caroline Lennon, and Claire Laurie co-star. 192 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo.