Richard III ****½ (1955, Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Stanley Baker, Alec Clunes, Pamela Brown, Michael Gough) – Classic Movie Review 3646

Laurence Olivier’s 1955 film triumph is his third William Shakespeare adaptation as star and director, following Henry V (1944) and Hamlet (1948). There were three 1956 Bafta wins – for Best British Actor, Best British Film and Best Film from any Source. It won the 1957 Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film. Olivier won the Silver Berlin Bear International Prize at the 1956 Berlin International Film Festival. And Olivier was nominated for the 1957 Best Actor Oscar.

Richard III proves an acting triumph for both Lord Olivier as Richard Crookback and the sterling, starry British acting royalty support team. Sir Ralph Richardson as the Duke of Buckingham, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as King Edward IV, Sir John Gielgud as the Duke of Clarence, Claire Bloom, Stanley Baker, Alec Clunes, Pamela Brown and Michael Gough prove exactly the right back-up team.

It is also successful as a film in Olivier applying his by then practised technical skills to create a movie that is both theatrical and a satisfying piece of cinema. Olivier’s towering performance finds dark humour in the portrait of villainy.

A bigger budget might possibly have sent the film’s makers on location chasing after period realism but the claustrophobic, enclosed studio look is a total success.

It runs 161 minutes with the cut version at 139 minutes.

Also in the cast are Mary Kerridge, Norman Wooland, Helen Haye, Patrick Troughton, Clive Morton, Andrew Cruickshank, John Laurie, Laurence Naismith, Nicholas Hannen, Stewart Allen, Russell Thorndike, Wally Bascoe, Norman Fisher, Terence Greenidge, Dan Cunningham, Douglas Wilmer, Michael Ripper, Andy Shine, Roy Russell, George Woodbridge, Esmond Knight, Peter Williams, Timothy Bateson, Willoughby Gray, Ann Wilton, Bill Shine, Derek Prentice, Deering Wells, Brian Nissen, Alexander Davion, Lane Meddick, Robert Bishop and Paul Huson.

The screenplay is by Laurence Olivier and Alan Dent, the cinematographer is Otto Heller, Olivier is producer, the score is by William Walton and the production is designed by Roger K Furse and Carmen Dillon.

It was remade with Ian McKellen in 1995 as Richard III, in which Cedric Hardwicke’s son Edward plays Lord Thomas Stanley.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3646
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