''Three Sisters'' is a 1970 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

starring Alan Bates, Laurence Olivier and

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, (née Plowright; born 28 October 1929), professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career has spanned over seven decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony ...

, based on the 1901

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

by Anton Chekhov. Olivier also directed, with co-director

John Sichel John Peter Sichel (21 September 1937 – 5 April 2005) was a British director of film, stage and television, and, later in life, a film, television, and theatre trainer. Early in his career, he became known for translating the classical theatre ...

; it was the final feature film directed by Olivier. The film was based on a 1967 theatre production that Olivier had directed at the Royal National Theatre. Both the theatrical production and the film used the translation from the original Russian by Moura Budberg. The film was released in the U.S. in 1974 as part of the

American Film Theatre From 1973 to 1975, using approximately 500 movie theaters across the US, The American Film Theatre presented two seasons of film adaptations of well-known plays. Each film was shown only four times at each theatre. By design, these were not films ...

. This was a series of thirteen film adaptations of stage plays shown to subscribers at about 500 movie theaters across the country.

Cast

*Jeanne Watts as Olga Prozorova *

as Masha Kulighina *Louise Purnell as Irina Prozorova *

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ''Kin ...

as Andrei Prozorov *

Sheila Reid Sheila Reid (born 21 December 1937) is a Scottish actress, known for playing Madge Harvey in the ITV sitcom ''Benidorm'' (2007–2016). An original member of the Royal National Theatre in 1963, she played Bianca in the National's 1965 film ve ...

as Natasha Ivanova *Kenneth MacKintosh as Fyodor Kulighin * Daphne Heard as Anfisa * Judy Wilson as Serving Maid *Mary Griffiths as Housemaid *

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...

as Baron Nikolaj Tusenbach * Laurence Olivier as Dr. Ivan Chebutikin *Frank Wylie as Maj. Vassili Vassilich Solyony * Alan Bates as Col. Aleksandr Vershinin * Richard Kay as Lt. Aleksej Fedotik

Reception

The film was apparently not widely reviewed in either its 1970 British or its 1974 US releases. Following the US release, the prominent critic

Judith Crist Judith Crist (; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was an American film critic and academic. She appeared regularly on the ''Today'' show from 1964 to 1973 Martin, Douglas (August 8, 2012)"Judith Crist, Zinging and Influential Film Critic, ...

wrote, "Once again we are faced with a neither-film-nor-play production, but it is, in Moura Budberg's liberal but satisfying translation and under Olivier's semi-cinematic direction, one at very least to fascinate devotees of the play. ... Through several performances, in Geoffrey Unsworth's luscious cinematography (and I mean the adjective in praise of the uncluttered and naturally generated flow his work deserves), and in the pacing there is somehow a sensuality and a sexuality underlying the work that I had not hitherto felt."

Molly Haskell Molly Clark Haskell (born September 29, 1939)Aitken, Ian, ed. (2006)''Encyclopedia of Documentary Film, Volume 2'' New York: Routledge. p. 541. . is an American feminist film critic and author. She contributed to ''The Village Voice''—fir ...

wrote that the film "boasts in Joan Plowright's Masha the finest performance I have seen or ever hope to see of one of Chekhov's greatest women characters."

Home video

The film was first released as a region 1 DVD in 2004. A Blu-ray version was released in the US in 2017.

References

External links

* * 1970 films Films based on Three Sisters Films directed by Laurence Olivier 1970s historical drama films British historical drama films Films scored by William Walton 1970 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{historic-film-stub

Cast

Reception

Home video

See also

References

External links