REFLECTIONS ON FILM CULTURE

The King’s Screen: Richard III

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Ian McKellan as ‘Richard III’ (source: UPI)

In 1955, Laurence Olivier returned both to Shakespeare adaptation and the British monarchy when he transferred his famous stage performance as Richard III to film. It proved to be far less of a movie than his Henry V, partly because there was little action to film, and partly because his own performance, fine as it is, seems too technical, too stagy, to really catch fire. Ian McKellan transferred his own Richard III to film in 1995, and that movie also suffered from stagy performances and “concepts” meant more for theatrical than film production.

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