Now is the winter of our discontent...

Richard III (1955)

Richard III: Sir Laurence Olivier
King Edward IV: Sir Cedric Hardwicke
George, Duke of Clarence: Sir John Gielguld

Directed and Produced by: Sir Laurence Olivier

Sir Laurence Olivier is almost universally acknowledged as one of the greatest actors of modern times. I have seen him in numerous roles, and they have always made a strong impression (though not always a good one). The words "Is it safe" from Marathon Man still send shivers down my spine. To watch Richard III is to watch a master give a course on acting.

This film is little more than a deliberately staged play, only moving to location shooting in the climactic battle. This may not be to everyone's taste. Still, Olivier makes the film worth watching at least once. His face is a bit hard to recognize at first due to the gigantic prosthetic nose he wears, but the first time I saw his eyes, his sly look, I knew it was him. Besides the exaggerated nose, his body is also costumed in such a way to accurately reflect Richard's physical deformities; hunched back, deformed left hand, and uneven legs. Sir Laurence wears them well.

I've always thought Richard III to be the most monstrous character Shakespeare ever wrote; it is said that this was deliberate since Richard III did murder the ancestors of the Queen for whom Shakespeare wrote. Oliver does a great job of playing such a monster. I enjoyed his effective us of shadows throughout the film to reflect many of the evil deeds committed.

Despite this darkness, Sir Laurence does an excellent job of conveying the character's sarcastic view of his actions and life in general. His choice to have Richard address the audience directly rather than use a voice-over was a correct one. The careless, dismissive manner with which he describes his dastardly, evil deeds is very humorous. I found myself laughing at several points, something I never did when reading the play. There is nothing subtle about Richard III - he's just plain evil. Yet I was never once bored by anything Richard did. Much of this credit goes to Sir Laurence.

The main disappointing aspect of the movie is that, though the cast features one of the greatest groups of actors of all time, most of the amazing talent is wasted. I am not sure if it is due to bad direction or if Olivier is just so overwhelming that everyone else pails, but Gielgud really disappointed me. He had one decent monologue, but he was ridiculously boring. Ralph Richard, who played Lord Buckingham, was the only one who was able to stand his ground against the director/actor.

Overall, I found this movie to be an excellent adaptation of the play, if a bit boring in parts. I also thought the bit thrown in from Henry IV, which allowed Richard to talk about how he so easily killed people, was a stroke of genius. Still, I found the staging to be a bit too deliberate for my taste, and the sound of the voices was jarring from time to time, whenever an actor had to raise his or her voice over something that made a lot of noise.

A few other things:

I had no idea Sir John Gielgud had red hair. He even resembles Danny Kaye a bit. I found myself admiring his hair at a few points. Like a lot of people my age, I had only seen him in Arthur, made when he was quite old. A part of me believes he won that Oscar because Hollywood realized it was probably one of the only chances they would get to give one to such a great actor; one who mainly stuck to the stage.

It is such a shame that so many of the great stage actors did not start doing movies until later in their careers, and many chose bad ones.

Sir Laurence was famous for being able to accurately affect any accent. Listening to him in this film, I almost forgot that his regular voice did not resemble the traditional Shakespearean English.

The first monologue of the film is staged so well, I think it qualifies as one of the greatest in film history. My eyes were riveted to the screen the entire time. And I am not sure, but I don't remember a single cut. I think Olivier did most if not all of it in one take. Amazing.