Richard III

Whilst flipping last night, I came across Richard III with Ian McKellen. This is the version set in a 1930s fascist state.

Any production of Richard III lives or dies based on the performance of the actor playing R3 since he carries the whole darn thing. McKellen is really a rotter in this, so the movie works. Man, is he nasty.

There’s a great scene where he has had one of his (many) alleged disloyal charges murdered, and a flunkie brings him 8 x 10 photos of the hanged victim. R3 throws a jazzy record on the phonograph and then stretches out on a couch and laughs as he looks at the photos. He is eeeev-illlllll.

I had planned to go to bed early, but I had to stay up to see how they managed to get in the “a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse” line into a 1930s setting. R3 is riding in a jeep. His driver gets shot, and then the soldier who is riding in the back, manning the machine gun, gets shot by R3!! He doesn’t trust anybody. Then the jeep’s wheels get jammed so R3 is just sitting there unable to move and he delivers the line. It worked pretty well because in an earlier scene showing the preparation for war, they showed some soldiers leading horses. Not bad.

One of the supporting lords was played by the actor who played Percy on Blackadder. I kept thinking "it's Percy!" and expecting him to do something goofy, but he didn't.