Richard III

I don't think this will follow a chronological order--it probably should, but I'd just end up all over the place anyway, so I may as well start that way. It will also be purely subjective.

Where to start?

With Richard III, of course.

I have to make this distinction--I love Shakespeare's play. The character is written so wonderfully wicked that it's fun to watch. The wall between the stage and audience is broken and you are made complicit to his deeds. However, I don't feel this caricature has any relation to the real Richard whatsoever. The only thing I find they have in common is that they were both named Richard, and they were both English. Beyond that, for me, the similarity ends.

There have been several film productions of Will's play, and I'll list those momentarily. I'm not aware of any film out there about the real Richard, as opposed to Shakespeare's caricature.
Personally, I like to think Richard was a good soldier and administrator and would have made a good King had he not been killed in battle so early in his reign. (The last English Monarch to be killed in battle, as a matter of fact.) I probably shouldn't have gotten into the "Richard is a good guy/Richard is evil incarnate" debate here. Ooops. For more info on the Pro-Richard side, check out the Richard III Society's website: http://www.richardiii.net/


I'll try to remember to post links to either Internet Movie Database for the films or Amazon.com for the books.

Now, on to the films:

1. There was a silent film version of Richard III released in 1912. I have not yet watched it, but it's widely available either for purchase or maybe even at your local library. Mine has it. It stars Frederick Warde as Richard. The copy we have at the library says it's the earliest surviving American feature film, has been restored by AFI and is scored by Ennio Morricone.

2. The classic Olivier film is widely available. The cast is a who's who of British actors, and even though the sets seem cheesy to our 21st century eyes, it's still a great version. It's Olivier at his height, playing Shakespeare's arch villain with all the stilted glory of the type of Shakespeare performance that frightens students to this day.

3. In 1983, the BBC produced a Richard III in their "The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare" series. It stars Ron Cook as Richard. I've found the series fairly good, so it's worth a try.

4. I'll preface this by saying that I absolutely loathe productions of Shakespeare plays set in different time periods, or in modern costume. However, in my opinion, the best version of this play on film is the 1995 production with Sir Ian McKellan playing Richard. Even though he is much older than the character, even though some of the other actors couldn't quite pull it off, and even though it's one of those "let's be artsy and set the story in a World War II alternate universe" productions, Sir Ian plays the part so well, it's a guilty pleasure. It's another production full of popular actors, and is fun to watch.

5. It doesn't really belong here, because it's not really about Richard the man, but there was a documentary done a few years back by Al Pacino and other actors called "Looking for Richard". It's more about the experience of acting Shakespeare's villain and how the story is still relevant today. It's quite interesting.

6. Okay, so this is a television show instead of a film, but you have to love it anyway. The first episode of the first Blackadder series with Rowan Atkinson stars Peter Cook as Richard III. Absolutely hilarious. Run out and watch it. Quickly. Do it right now.

Is there anyone out there besides me who would love to see Kenneth Branagh do this film?? He's done a stage production, but I would give up chocolate for a year if I could see him do this on film.

Enough for now. I'll put books up later. There are tons of fiction and some good non-fiction as well.