This Sun of York
by DavidQ
One of my favorite of Shakespeare's plays has always been Richard III. Richard is one of Shakespeare's great villains, and the play contains some of his best lines. It was actually Ian McKellan's version which reset the whole drama in the 1930's that made me love the play. But last night I watched the version made by Laurence Olivier in 1955. What struck me about this version was how well Olivier structured it around Richard's monologues, including us all in his villainy. I think it must have been an innovation to have a Shakespearean character speak directly to the camera as Olivier does... and it's quite effective. I was also struck by the way Olivier uses shadows and light and by the interesting use of Christian imagery.
This is one of the more complicated of Shakespeare's plots, so if you need a little explanation of what's happening (as I did), here is a good write-up.
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