Richard III – 1955

• 2015/03/27

It is very much a product of its time, but do not let that deter you from discovering this masterpiece by Lawrence Olivier – cinema’s great Shakespearian scholar. Unlike many of the films we love, the beauty is not in the form, though the undeniable craftsmanship does eventually make an impression. The real achievement, as Shakespeare aficionados would have it, is in the text, and how expertly it has been edited, rearranged and supplemented (curtesy of preceding play « Henry VI » and later authors Cibber and Garrick). If that doesn’t inspire you – and it did us, as our films section will soon reveal – then Olivier’s Blackadder-inspiring turn as the protagonist should do the trick.