Release Date: Feb 24, 2004 Region: 1 Runtime: 159 mins Studio: Criterion Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono
Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color
Subtitles: English Packaging: Keep Case Rating: NR Features:
Commentary by Playwright and Stage Director Russell Lees, Joined by John Wilders, Former Governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company Great Acting: Laurence Olivier, a 1966 BBC Interview With Olivier, Hosted by Renowned Theater Critic Kenneth Tynan Gallery of On-Set and Production Stills and Posters, Featuring Excerpts From Olivier's Autobiography On Acting 12 Minute Television Trailer With Olivier, Producer Alexander Korda, Production Designer Roger Furse, and Other Crew Members at Work in Shepperton Studios Theatrical Trailer Essay by Film Historian Bruce Eder
This film adaptation of a critically acclaimed stage production of Shakespeare's historical drama stars Ian McKellen in the title role. The setting is a comic-book vision of 1930s London: part art deco, part Third Reich, part industrial-age rust and rot. The play's force is turned into a synthetic high by art directors and storyboard sketchers, all of whom have a field day condensing the material into disposable pop imagery. Richard III is a fun film, more than anything, so infatuated with its own monstrous stitchery that even the most awkward casting (Annette Bening and Robert Downey Jr) seems a part of the ridiculous design. McKellen is the best thing about the movie, his mesmerising portrayal of freakish despotism and poisoned desire a thing to behold. --Tom Keogh
Movie Database
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