The Merchant of Venice

A chance to see Lord and Lady Olivier in a work of Shakespeare is never to be passed up. Laurence Olivier is the enigmatic Shylock whose interpretation has changed over the century and Joan Plowright whose hand all the young folk in Venice but one seems to want.

Of course I came into watching The Merchant Of Venice expecting to see Laurence Oliver doing his patented mittel-Europa accent best known for use in The Boys From Brazil. Instead we got a most cultured Shylock not someone you'd otherwise might think of selling from a pushcart on the Lower East Side.

I think Olivier did it this way because Shylock the money lender is trying his best to assimilate into Venetian society as far as he can and still be true to his culture. He only goes so far, daughter Jessica would sooner convert and marry Lorenzo who really is a fortune hunting snake. They are played by Louise Purnell and Malcolm Reid.

The main plot however revolves around young Basanio who is Jeremy Brett looking to marry Portia who is the wealthiest young woman around and she's got many suitors. Brett's a nice kid but kind of a spendthrift with his money. He's got an old indulgent friend in Antonio played by Anthony Nicholls who is both a merchant and a moneylender as well in competition with Shylock. He charges a lot less interest and undercuts him in business. That gives Nicholls a lot of pleasure because he doesn't like Jews at all, he's one proud anti-Semite.

So Brett needs a backer and Nicholls would like to, but as we would say today he's got a cash flow problem as all his money is tied up with goods at sea in his mercantile business. For past and present slights. Olivier names as his collateral a pound of Nicholls's flesh.

For those who've never seen the play these disputes are arbitrated by the Duke Of Venice. And the Duke who is Benjamin Wittrow has a novel interpretation.

Over the years as anti-Semitism has become more odious Shylock has become a more sympathetic figure. For centuries he was given the crooked nose, the funny way of speaking and was considered the blackest of villains who gets his in the end. As I said before Shylock is in fact trying to assimilate as best he can, but the people's prejudices are smug and self serving. And his is a natural reaction of a father who doesn't like his daughter's choice of a husband. After all she's marrying a Shegetz in his culture.

Even if you're not liking how Olivier sees Shylock he certainly is always interesting and to watch. As this well cast ensemble doing The Merchant Of Venice.

Shylock is a successful and shrewd moneylender in Venice. He lends a large sum of money to Bassanio, with Antonio, a merchant, as the guarantor. While the interest terms are very generous - no interest at all - Antonio owes Shylock "a pound of flesh" upon default.

The Merchant of Venice is one Shakespeare play I've never really been able to enjoy. The plot is a bit strange and implausible - the pound of flesh contract is plain creepy and weird and the fact that this becomes the centre of proceedings rather than just a darkly amusing sub-plot makes it even worse.

You also don't know who to support: Antonio is a bigot but Shylock is portrayed as being greedy and too commercial, to the detriment of his humanity. At times it appears that Shakespeare wants us to support Antonio, which, considering his racism, is quite jarring.

Throw in the superficial romantic aspect and the "wait, there's more" twists-for-twists' sake court case and the play is difficult to get into.

This film adaptation doesn't help with the enjoyment. Quite faithful to the play, which, in this case, is a bad thing, it's quite dry. Despite being film-like, rather than stage-like, production, it still feels like a play.

If you have to watch an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice one with Laurence Olivier will always feature near the top of the list but that would be the only reason to watch this.

This is one of those Shakespeare productions that makes the language, plot and themes all the clearer because of the exceptional acting and the very intelligent direction. Olivier has, with some justification, earned an outstanding reputation as a Shakespearean actor, and while some of his earlier work is, for me, a bit too theatrical, this is pitch perfect. There is no reason that I can discern for setting this play at the turn of the 20th Century - unlike, for instance, the very clever Ian McKellan/Richard Loncraine production of Richard III, which benefited greatly from a 1930s setting that evoked militarism and the rise of National Socialism - and yet it works well, allowing both a degree of peculiarity that the language requires and a familiarity that helps the story transcend its moment in history.

As others have commented, this version of The Merchant of Venice works very well because neither Shylock nor Antonio are wholly good or bad. Of course, it makes sense to us that Shylock is not what he seems to his Christian contemporaries, but neither is he completely free of responsibility for what happens to him. Anthony Nicholls' Antonio is likewise more gray than black or white, and more human for it, although not particularly likable, except perhaps to his immediate circle.

The surprise, even though it should not be, is Joan Plowright, who does an exceptional job as Portia. Her young woman, particularly her young woman as a man of the law courts, is outstanding and a little troubling in her zeal. All in all, this is a superior production, and one in which nearly every line is made clear and every theme is explored.

Olivier's Shylock is a wonderful characterization, painful to watch (as it should be) at times, but the show belongs to Joan Plowright as Portia. She is the consummate lady, at times abstracted or petulant (did her wise old father perhaps spoil her a bit?) but always magnetic. Jeremy "Freddy Eynsford-Hill" Brett is a sweet young Bassanio (how did he grow up to be Sherlock Holmes?) and Anna Carteret a smooth, smiling Nerissa, and Miller does interesting things with Jessica and Lorenzo in Act Five. My one quibble is with Anthony Nicholls as Antonio. He and Shylock go around like white-haired doppelgangers in black top hats and cloaks, which is a nice touch, but he himself is just *there*. We don't know what Bassanio sees in him, what he sees in Bassanio, why he hates Shylock so much, why Shylock would bother to hate him, if he's at all distressed at the prospect of forfeiting his bond or concerned about his ships. The suitors mug rather and the singing ladies in the final casket scene are somewhat painful, but it's a creditable job overall.

This version was set in the early 1900's to give the book a more different feel. The Merchant of Venice would have to be my favorite Shakespeare book and this TV movie would have to be the best out of all the movies I've seen on the Merchant of Venice. It should be noted that the main roles in the film are of top calibre Actors who really perform well, especially Laurence Olivier who did a fantastic job of playing Shylock the Jew.

The only over acting would have to come from Prince Arragon and Morocco who definitely go over the top (and I don't think anyone whose read the book would imagine Prince Arragon to be 80 years old)

Apart from that slight hiccup from the Slump duo the film is worth watching and is ideal for anyone who wants to study the book or rehearse The Merchant of Venice