George Bernard Shaw - Androcles and the Lion (1983) [DVDRip Xvid]

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Androcles and the Lion

by George Bernard Shaw

















It seems fair to assume that a production of this light hearted fable featuring Billy Connolly as a very Glaswegian Greek would be an easy way to start the epic journey. First seen in 1984 on BBC1, this does indeed prove to be a gentle comedy, although as Shaw intended it does have a serious core.



The opening scene featuring the Christian Andy and his shrewish wife is extremely funny and ends bizarrely as, after the bearded animal lover removes a thorn from the paw of a lion, Tommy, the pair end up in a delightful waltz of mutual pleasure and admiration.



The nobility of the Christians is demonstrated not only by Androcles but also by his colleagues who will be forced into passive duels with Gladiators or thrown to the lions.



Shaw does a nice job in presenting archetypes with Anna Calder-Marshall charming as Lavinia. She is the kind of woman whose Christian belief is so deep and sincere that one can believe that she would calmly allow herself to be martyred in the mouth of a wild animal believing that a heavenly future was just around the corner.



By contrast, her brother Ferrovius, played by Bernard Bresslaw, is a gigantic hulk who is desperate to be good but whose amazing physicality may well make martyrdom impossible. John Tordoff provides a good contrast as a wimpish co-religionist whose lack of courage is rewarded with an early death that may prevent his entry into heaven.



Everybody must surely know the way in which this hour-long production ends but that detracts nothing from the feel-good factor that is inevitable when Andy and Tommy dance once more and then entertain themselves at the expense of Peter Copley's Caesar who is far from imperial, at least when confronted with a rather human lion.





Cast

Billy Connolly - Androcles

Anna Calder Marshall - Lavinia

Bernard Bresslaw - Ferrovius

Rupert Frazer - The Captain

Peter Copley - Caesar

John Tordoff - Spintho

Stafford Gordon - Centurion

Jane Freeman - Megaera

Roy Jones - The Lion

Percy Edwards - The Lion's voice





This torrent includes a subtitles file in the srt format.



=== File Information ===

File Name: Androcles and the Lion.avi

Duration: 00:58:34

File Size: 697 MB



=== Video Information ===

Video Codec Name: XviD

Video Bitrate: 1521 kb/s

Bits / Pixel: 0.198 bits/pixel

Resolution: 640x480 (1.33:1)

Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps



=== Audio Information ===

Audio Codec: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3

Audio Bitrate: 136 kb/s (68/ch, stereo) VBR LAME3.90







===============================



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