Robert J. Maxwell I've avoided Shakespeare in modern settings. Before this I'd only watched Olivier's version and read the play. And, I regret to say that all the way through this film the setting -- 1930s "Germany" -- was a bit of a distraction. You have never seen so many people smoking cigarettes. What saved the movie was the performances. Ian McKellen is far more a rude lump of foul deformity than Olivier ever even suggested and his performance as the central figure is superb, all squinched up, skinny and ugly. Richard the Turd, some have called him.But then everybody is pretty good, with Robert Downey, Jr., perhaps the weakest of the lot. Kristin Scott-Thomas as Lady Anne is a close second to McKellen. She's also very attractive. Kate Steavonson-Payne has only a few lines but makes a succulent Princess Elizabeth. The exopthalmic Maggie Smith, as usual, sets the screen alight and Edward Hardwicke is the soul of morality as Dr. Watson -- I mean Stanley.The story is familiar enough,. Richard, a deformed cripple, murders his way to the top. The first victim we learn about is Lady Anne's husband. McKellen has had him murdered and Scott-Thomas knows it. But he confronts her in the morgue where she is lamenting her late husband's fate over his body, which has two holes in its chest. Richard woos her on the spot. Yes, he says, he killed her husband -- but only because he loves her so much. He proffers a dagger and invites her to cut his throat. When she demurs, he claims he can do it himself, but she refuses the offer because of his "honey'd words." Not only that. She looks at him a little curiously and not much later falls under his spell. It always struck me that Lady Anne was kind of dumb.The final battle takes place in a burned-out city, something like the Saigon of Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." I was waiting to see how the hell they would work, "A horse! A horse! MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE!" into a battle that has tanks plunging through walls and jeeps with machine guns zooming around in a confusing manner and not a horse in sight. They did manage to work the famous line in, though. I won't say how. The closing scene is surreal -- Richard is shot and plunges to his death in some kind of bonfire, laughing maniacally all the way, and then Al Jolson is singing "Top of the World." And I'm thinking: homage to Cagney? Production design and related elements aside, what impressed me was how much of the play Olivier had left out and McKellen, who wrote it, has managed to squeeze in and how the text of the play itself was at least equally mangled.

gcd70 Fantastic translation of William Shakespeare's "Richard III" is both involving, dramatic and humorous as it manages to capture all the emotional highs and lows of the bard's murderous tale of megalomaniacal King Richard.Writers Ian McKellen (who also plays the King) and Richard Loncraine (director) work from Richard Eyre's stage adaptation to create an ingenious screenplay that translates sublimely to a World War II setting. The idea was brilliant, the final product, just as good. Thanks to the intelligent use of Shakespeare's observant dialogue and sharply hewn characters, "Richard III" holds us in a vice-like grip.McKellen's Richard is a hybrid of the loathsome dictators that dominated this new time frame (Hitler or Stalin), yet with much more charm and wit, and a sickeningly egotistical outlook. His performance is marvellous, and I for one have not enjoyed a villain so since Anthony Hopkins brought Dr. Hannibal Lecter to life or Robert De Niro so richly portrayed crime boss Al Capone. Supporting him is a very impressive, solid cast including Annette Bening as the distraught Queen Elizabeth, Kristin Scott Thomas as a haunted Lady Anne, the immensely enjoyable Maggie Smith as the Duchess of York (Richard's mother) and manipulative Jim Broadbent plays Buckingham. Also stars a sinister Nigel Hawthorne as Clarence and an apt American Earl Rivers played by Robert Downey Junior.These outstanding turns and the incisive script (which together make this film) are supported by Tony Burrough's lavish production design, Peter Biziou's classy photography and highly effective editing from Paul Green.Monday, June 23, 1997 - Hoyts Croydon

ntvnyr30 It's unfortunate more people don't know about this film and what a treasure it is. In fact, I think I almost relish when people are not aware of a small film like this, because I can introduce it to them. A similar small, great film that people have never heard of is "Glengarry Glen Ross." I am a Shakespeare fan, and think updating the period to the modern era should have made this more accessible to the general populace, but unfortunately it didn't register with them.Everyone knows the plot--about a deformed man with an insatiable lust for power who is able to overcome his physical handicap with a silver tongue (hmmm, I think I met some of these people before...).There are many superlatives about this film--the cast, the cinematography, the music--but what can't be said of Ian McKellan's performance? He was simply amazing, and seemed to have a devil of a time in his quest to reach the throne. The scene when he's walking the hall of the military hospital after successfully wooing Elizabeth is hilarious. How he wasn't nominated for an Academy Award I'll never know.The cast is worth mentioning, such a great compilation of actors: Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, John Wood, Kristen Scott Thomas and of course Nigel Hawthorne. The cast also included two Yanks: Annette Bening and Robert Downey jr. I liked Downey's inclusion more than Bening's, since Bening's reading of the lines sounded well, just like that.Broadbent is great as Richard's willing accomplice and Adrian Dunbar is also excellent as another willing participant in Richard's evil deeds.This is a must-see for all Shakespeare fans.

Alain English Richard Loncraine's fantastic production of "Richard III" is easily one of the best Shakespeare adaptations I have seen, and this one even betters the Olivier version of Richard III done several decades before.Loncraine moves the action to 1930's England and parallels the rise of the scheming Richard to that of Fascism across Europe in the same period, most notable in the costuming and army props that chillingly resemble Nazi paraphernalia.Ian McKellen is a fantastic Richard, snide and scheming but not entirely unsympathetic. Despite his vile actions, I found myself rooting for him, despite his inevitable downfall at the end.The screenplay makes the action comprehensible in a way that Olivier's version did not. Through all the intrigue, betrayal and double-crosses it is entirely clear what is happening and why. Much of the text has been cut and some of the characters merged in order to do this but, nevertheless, it's impressive feat.Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and Nigel Hawthorne deliver well-rounded performances in the chief supporting roles, and there is even an American element plausibly worked in through the presence of US actors Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr.It was released some time ago now but get it out while you can. It's a treat.