Shakespeare in Performance: Film
Richard III: by William Shakespeare with Some Interpolations by David Garrick and Colley Cibber (1955, Laurence Olivier)
| Title | Richard III: by William Shakespeare with Some Interpolations by David Garrick and Colley Cibber |
|---|---|
| Year | 1955 |
| Release Locations | GB |
| Director | Laurence Olivier |
| Medium | Color video |
| Length | 2 hrs, 37 mins |
| Languages | English |
| Audience | college and university general public |
| Play Connections | Richard III (performance) |
Description
As the subtitle suggests, the script for Olivier's film drew heavily on the stage tradition set by Colley Cibber when he grafted the last part of 3H6 on to Richard III to make the narrative more comprehensible to an average audience. Designer Roger Furse needed special care with the details of the 15th-century settings because the new technique of VistaVision photography could pick out the most distant background scene with pinpoint clarity. Carmen Dillon completed the job of transferring the settings to the three large stages at Shepperton Studios, London. The film was premiered in the USA simultaneously on screen and television, being televised nationally from 2:30 to 5:30 PM, 11 March 1956, by NBC to 146 stations in 45 states. America's then most visible Shakespeare expert, Dr. Frank Baxter, offered an intermission talk on the gap between Shakespeare's Richard III and the historical Richard III. The viewers, estimated at 25 million, exceeded the combined audiences for all Shakespeare productions throughout history. Since only 25,000 American homes then had color tv, most people viewed the production in a depressing black and white
Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14
Cast Overview
Production Team and Crew Overview
Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell