Richard III (1955)

Shakespeare's powerful tale of the wicked deformed King and his conquests, both on the battlefield and in the boudoir.

Director:

Laurence Olivier

Writers:

William Shakespeare (plays), David Garrick (textual alterations for his production of the play)

Stars:

Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Nicholas Hannen

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cedric Hardwicke	...	King Edward IV of England
Nicholas Hannen	...	Archbishop
Laurence Olivier	...	Richard III
Ralph Richardson	...	Duke of Buckingham
John Gielgud	...	George, Duke of Clarence
Mary Kerridge	...	Queen Elizabeth
Pamela Brown	...	Jane Shore
Paul Huson	...	Edward, Prince of Wales
Stewart Allen	...	Page to Richard
Claire Bloom	...	The Lady Anne
Russell Thorndike	...	First Priest
Wallace Bosco	...	Monk (as Wally Bosco)
Norman Fisher	...	Monk
Andrew Cruickshank	...	Brackenbury
Clive Morton	...	The Lord Rivers

Storyline

Richard's military skills have helped to put his older brother Edward on the throne of England. But jealousy and resentment cause Richard to seek the crown for himself, and he conceives a lengthy and carefully calculated plan using deception, manipulation, and outright murder to achieve his goal. His plotting soon has tumultuous consequences, both for himself and for England.

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Plot Keywords:

battlefield | murder | wife mourns husband | shakespeare play | reference to william shakespeare | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

11 March 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ricardo III

Filming Locations:

La Mancha, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Film Productions,L.O.P.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

161 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir John Gielgud's casting in this film can be seen as a combination of Sir Laurence Olivier's quest for an all-star cast, and the fact that Olivier had rejected Gielgud's request to play the Chorus in Henry V (1944).

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Goofs

During the opening credits, the movie is introduced as "Laurence Olivier Present's Richard III by William Shakespeare". The word "Present's" should read "Presents" - the apostrophe is in error.

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Quotes

Richard III: Look how my ring encompasseth thy finger. Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart. Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.

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Crazy Credits

Most of the film's credits are shown at the end. The opening credits show only the title of the film, Shakespeare's name, and the names of the main actors.

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Connections

Version of King Rikki (2002)

User Reviews

The absolute actor. The absolute film.

I think that there is one of the greatest masterpiece of the cinema through the ages, even the first time of the ages of silent movies, like masterpieces than ‘The Battelship Potemkin', for example, and a few several ones. When an actor, like Laurence Olivier, it makes all his performance in the movie (or it is better to speak about a pure stage?) a complete treatise of the perfect actor: soliloquies of several minutes ‘in crescendo', looking at the camera and sharing with the audience his diabolic tricks, one and more time and making captivate to us... Would Shakespeare himself wanted anybody better than Olivier if he could see him?. I don't know, but I can say by myself that Olivier made with Shakespeare's work that me, and I suppose thousands of people, and I'm speaking about people from abroad about England, English literature, History and customs, we love Shakespeare's work at all times. Like you know, here in Spain we ‘ve got several excellent writers, and we had them in the past... But with Olivier first, and Kenneth Branagh later, they have remembered to the rest of the people of the world, outside England and not anglo-saxon talking people, who is, who were the biggest Shakespeare. Thank you both of you.