In 1471, the Duke of Gloucester (Laurence Olivier) helps install his brother Edward (Cedric Hardwicke) as king, but sets in motion a scheme to grab the throne himself.

After the success of Henry V (1944) and Hamlet (1948), Olivier returned to Shakespeare for another compelling adaptation. Not all of it is great; the sets look a tad too sparse, Olivier tends to dominate at the expense of everyone else, and it’s too obvious that the climactic battle was shot nowhere near the British Isles.

Still, it’s a masterly edited version of the play, featuring a definitive, evil portrait of King Richard, ”plucking sin on sin”.

1955-U.K. 161 min. Color. Widescreen. Produced by Alexander Korda, Laurence Olivier. Written and directed by Laurence Olivier. Play: William Shakespeare. Cinematography: Otto Heller. Music: William Walton. Costume Design: Margaret Furse, Roger K. Furse. Cast: Laurence Olivier (Richard), Cedric Hardwicke (Edward IV), John Gielgud (George), Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom, Paul Huson, Andy Shine, Helen Haye, Laurence Naismith.

Trivia: Alternate version runs 139 min. Olivier considered casting Orson Welles as Buckingham, but Richardson ended up in the part. The play was also filmed as Richard III (1995).

BAFTA: Best Film, British Film, Actor (Olivier). Golden Globe: Best English-Language Foreign Film. 

Last word: “It’s a really difficult play to film – it’s involved, often obscure. Yet it’s always been a popular play; as Dr. Johnson said, its popularity derives from the character of Richard. But I felt it absolutely necessary to do more simplification than I’ve ever done before, and although every commentator and critic through the centuries had attacked the structure of this play, I quite expect, now, to be accused of vandalism […] The film runs two and three quarter hours, and of course ends with the battle scenes, which are not intended to be highly spectacular like De Mille’s – I don’t claim to be a big battle director.” (Olivier, interview with Roger Manvell)