27.06.1996

Murder and smiles

John Craig reviews Richard III, directed by Richard Loncraine

This is a modern reworking of Shakespeare’s great play. Laurence Olivier’s 1956 film forever fixed the image of the king of England who was “determined to prove a villain” - he could smile and murder while he smiled. Olivier’s version triggered off a million bad imitations of his accent and mannerisms, which obscured the brilliance of his portrait of Richard’s intelligent evil.

Loncraine’s film is far removed from Olivier’s. It is set in a kind of alternative 1930s Britain with Sir Ian McKellen playing a Richard who resembles Sir Oswald Mosley, striding around in military uniform and jack boots, languidly viewing photographic close-ups of a rival’s hanged corpse while lying on a settee listening to gramophone music.

Like Olivier, McKellen’s Richard glances at the screen frequently to let the audience in on his designs - the viewer becomes a sort of accomplice. However, a feature of all versions of the play, including Loncraine’s, is that Richard is by far the most interesting character. He is not the only devious plotter but he is the only one with a sense of humour or any real depth of character. In the case of his victims, you are merely left wondering how they could be so stupid.

I do not think this film will shake Olivier’s version as the classic interpretation of Richard. McKellen acts brilliantly, but his Richard is almost too likeable, whereas Olivier had a touch of the devil about him. However, this film is a brilliant example of updating. A poem by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, Come lie with me and be my love, is turned into a 1930s-style song crooned by a chanteuse at a victory celebration. And in the final battle (at Battersea power station), Richard is killed after fleeing from a Landrover. He is defeated by a Richmond whose smile of triumph is very similar to Richard’s grin earlier in the film, and this shows us that the pattern of ruling class power and corruption will continue despite the death of the “bunch-backed toad”, Richard...

John Craig