ent, primarily using existing buildings as sets, instead of rebuilding them on soundstages. Every scene is alive with movement and detail, a quality that is sadly lacking in Olivier's version. The setting is Britain, but a Britain very much of the late 1930s. This much can be seen at once. Richard's opening soliloquy is broken in half; the first half is spoken into a microphone before a crowd of merry-makers at King Edward IV's victory celebration. However, just as Richard reaches "Grim-visag'd war has smoothed his wrinkled brow", and the soliloquy becomes more a description of Richard's plans, we cut away to Richard, alone, in the men's room--taking a piss. As Richard relieves himself, he continues his soliloquy. Clearly, the movie is not above using anything--including Richard's bathroom habits--to move the story along. A perfect fit for today's audiences.2. BackgroundWhen Olivier made Richard III, he had to work within the bounds of the 1950s, which makes it difficult for modern audiences (myself included, I'm ashamed to say) to stick with the movie until the end. The things that get audiences going nowadays are basically sex and violence (hopefully with a decent story keeping them together). Olivier's version has very little of the former, and I think that he wouldn't have put them in even if he could. I have seen several of his movies, and he seems to be a man who prefers to let his acting speak for itself.Ian McKellan is less reserved in this respect, and it shows in the very first scene of the movie. A message comes in for King Henry VI over a teletype at his field headquarters just as the he is retiring for the evening. Suddenly, we feel a rumbling. Is it an earthquake? Maybe a T-Rex? Nope, it's a tank, which bursts through the wall of the study. Men wearing gas masks and brandishing automatic weapons make short work of the command staff, especially one figure, which takes out the King with one round from a 9mm ...
