Nothing actually happens in As You Like It. Basically, characters hang around in a forest, moaning and pining, and there's the obligatory cross-dressing. However, it is a charming piece of whimsy (well, with some saucy humour) and this adaptation is the whimsiest of all.
Poor Elisabeth Bergner. Her interpretation of Rosalind is lovely; she is a Puck-like figure, toying with hearts but never in malice. JM Barrie had a hand in the film, and there is something Peter Pan-like about Rosalind. In her disguise, she is androgynous, both male and female. So contrary to other viewers, I like her Rosalind. The problem is Bergner's German accent is quite strong and shrill, making it hard to hear the words. However, if you watch a captioned version (there's one on YouTube), you can get past the accent and appreciate the performance.
This is Laurence Olivier's first Shakespeare on screen, as Orlando, Rosalind's love interest. Olivier is at his most dashing and smouldering here, every inch the romantic hero. He can't really do comedy, but in a way his very serious portrayal of Orlando works. Not only does it make the film more romantic, it contrasts nicely with Bergner's playful Rosalind and makes sense of Rosalind's taunting Orlando. She's basically telling him to lighten up.
This is a mercifully streamlined version of the play (after all, there's only so many forest romps we can take). Jaques basically says nothing except the seven ages of man speech, Touchstone has less scenes but is funny in them. This version is really just about Rosalind, Orlando, and maybe Celia, Rosalind's gal pal played endearingly by Sophie Stewart.
Perhaps we'll never get a perfectly faithful version of the play but this lovely bit of old-fashioned fluff is probably the best we'll get.
Poor Elisabeth Bergner. Her interpretation of Rosalind is lovely; she is a Puck-like figure, toying with hearts but never in malice. JM Barrie had a hand in the film, and there is something Peter Pan-like about Rosalind. In her disguise, she is androgynous, both male and female. So contrary to other viewers, I like her Rosalind. The problem is Bergner's German accent is quite strong and shrill, making it hard to hear the words. However, if you watch a captioned version (there's one on YouTube), you can get past the accent and appreciate the performance.
This is Laurence Olivier's first Shakespeare on screen, as Orlando, Rosalind's love interest. Olivier is at his most dashing and smouldering here, every inch the romantic hero. He can't really do comedy, but in a way his very serious portrayal of Orlando works. Not only does it make the film more romantic, it contrasts nicely with Bergner's playful Rosalind and makes sense of Rosalind's taunting Orlando. She's basically telling him to lighten up.
This is a mercifully streamlined version of the play (after all, there's only so many forest romps we can take). Jaques basically says nothing except the seven ages of man speech, Touchstone has less scenes but is funny in them. This version is really just about Rosalind, Orlando, and maybe Celia, Rosalind's gal pal played endearingly by Sophie Stewart.
Perhaps we'll never get a perfectly faithful version of the play but this lovely bit of old-fashioned fluff is probably the best we'll get.