'Richard III' (1955)

The Ian McKellan version with him stuck in a jeep and shouting: "A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" comes to mind when I hear that line.

petrolino My pleasure.
The disappearance of the Princes and Richard's part or non-part in it, is one of the world's intriguing mysteries. It's certainly a controversy which has raged in England, and beyond, since 1483. There is still only unsubstantiated accusations that the two boys were even murdered. But no evidence. So naturally finding the bones of Richard III was a big event in the UK. The controversy rages on.

Warning --- Researching into this mystery can become addictive.

Laurence Olivier was something of a transitional figure in Shakespeare acting between an older declamatory style and modern “Method” or naturalistic performances and his “Richard III” is a prime example.

As petrolino has said, the film, like all Shakespeare movies until the late 20th century, is “stagey,” stopping dead for all the famous speeches and lines. In addition, additional lines are created or brought in from other sources in a few places, including the opening “Now is the winter of our discontent” speech. However, Olivier manages to deliver some potent scenes. This is one of the best Shakespeare films up to its time (1955), not that there had been that many. In Hollywood, anyway, Shakespeare was considered box office poison and the reverential, carved in marble style that put people to sleep was a self-fulling prophecy. The same applied to TV. Nothing could make American audiences almost break their wrists spinning the channel dial than Shakespeare.

The 1995 Ian McKellen film is fun but severely cut, especially the last half of the play.

My recommendation for a truly outstanding experience of Shakespeare’s War Of The Roses plays (which is about as historical as any 21st century Hollywood film that claims to be “based on a true story”), I recommend the BBC Production called, collectively, The Hollow Crown. The second season (2016) consists of the three Henry VI plays (edited together into two 2-hour episodes) and Richard III, the final stages of the War. This fills in many gaps in the story. Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later, Richard III) for example, plays a large role in the final Henry play. This needs to be seen. The third and final 2-hour episode is the play we know as “Richard III”. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the disabled villain and is beyond brilliant. Judy Dench appears as his mother, the Duchess of York. In the earlier Henry plays, actors like Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda, Doctor Who), Keely Hawes (Upstairs Downstairs) and many others have major roles. A must see. A must have.

Oh, how I do go on. But one last thing. No one (I think) has mentioned Josephine Tey's 1951 detective novel "The Daughter of Time." Tey’s series character, Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, is bored while laid up in the hospital so he and some assistants attempt to use police methods on a historical investigation of the disappearances of the two Princes during the War Of The Roses, deaths Richard III has been traditionally been blamed for. Grant’s conclusions at the end are surprising and convincing. This novel frequently appears on lists of the greatest mystery and detective stories.

Here is a very brief taste of Cumberbatch as Richard, from “Henry VI, Part 3."

I would like to hear more of why you think so. I couldn't disagree more.

Thanks for the reply. I am that way about some other popular actors but I tend to love Cumberbatch in just about anything. I realize that his portrayal of Turing was not true to life, but that may have been the way he was directed to play it. Anyhow, I pretty much enjoyed that film, also.

petrolino

I love "Looking For Richard" (1996). It is a documentary about the making of a movie of Shakespeare’s “Richard the Third” that never was finished. We follow Pacino as he gathers a cast, rehearses, and performs scenes with them in historic locations where King Richard actually walked. It all looks very promising. Pacino and Winona Ryder act out the remarkable scene where Richard courts and wins Lady Ann while she is still grieving over the casket of her first husband…who Richard had killed! In another chilling scene, after Richard has claimed the throne, the Earl of Buckingham (the now disgraced Kevin Spacey), who helped the new king murder his way up the ladder, comes for his reward, but he is too late. Richard is not in a giving mood and Buckingham realizes he has to get out of there or lose his head. Intense scene. Brilliant acting. Brilliant writing. It’s too bad we don’t have the complete account from Pacino, Spacey, et.al. A tantalizing taste of what might have been.