Richard III [study extract]

This extract shows the opening sequence of “Richard III”, the third of Olivier’s Shakespearian interpretations on film. It remains almost literally as Shakespeare wrote it. Instead of a coldly evil villain as in the stage version, Richard becomes a cocky, artful and almost likeable villain. The opening scene of “Edward VI”, Part 3, is actually the last scene of “Henry VI”, Part 3, and it serves admirably to convey the different levels of court intrigues and tensions and to heighten the effect of Richard’s soliloquy: “Now is the winter of our discontent…” The cast includes Laurence Olivier as Richard and Cedric Hardwicke as Edward IV. Music by William Walton.