26 w^m^w^mMjmjm^m^m^m^mjmjw^w^vm^vx! I NEW YORK ARTTHEATRES! SR GOES TO THE MOVIES VWV%K!^^Jf^^JWWVSB Last showing! Mar. 11 at PLAZA ALEC GUI1\IMESS in "THE PRISOIXER" Sir Laurence and the Bard starts Mon., Mar. 12 at PLAZA I "HOUSE of RICORDl" OR the third time Sir Laurence "Henry V" or "Hamlet" and the re­ The story of the Golden Age of Olivier had addressed himself to sults are, on the whole, more than Italian Opera, I9th Centuryl Fwhat is, beyond any doubt, the justified. The film opens with the final PLAZA Thea. SS St. Nr. Madison most difficult of all film assignments, scene from the third part of "King the translation of the poetic drama Henry VI," transformed (with both

TK[ I. UIHUR MNH ORCANIMIION mSENIS of Shakespeare into the overwhelm­ poetic and historic license) into the ingly realistic motion-picture medium. coronation of Edward IV. Its lines af­ And to say that in "Richard III" (Lo- ford a brilliant opportunity to intro­ pert Films) he has succeeded admi­ duce the tangle of relationships and ::TicHNieotoii, rably suggests less the extent of his the uneasy atmosphere that pervades •u'rin, DISK BOOABPE achievement than the magnitude of the court, the suggestion of factions, ^<, In VIStaVision • A REPUBLIC RELEASE , the problem itself. Preparing a film veiled discontent, and divided loyal­ TRAN».lUx52nd OB LEXINGTON PL. 3 2434 version of Shakespeare is far more ties. Then, the ceremony over, the than a matter of building character­ courtiers depart and Richard limps izations or making textual ellisions toward the camera and, speaking and emendations; the theatre director straight at the audience, begins "Now must do that too. But to bring alive is the winter of our discontent. . . ." the patterns of Shakespearean speech, The effect is startling, as if we are the conventions of Elizabethan drama being unexpectedly invited into the --STOKOWSKI HCHNICQTM and action conceived in theatrical confidence of a man so sure of him­ " ^5>-TI1»MS.LUX 57,HSI.W„, For v^*" graoter enjoymanl »•• terms upon a two-dimensional rec­ self that he can afford to reveal his yiormanme tf.i:u 'Fontiiiii>' from Ih* b*Binninfll tangle that has its own laws and con­ plans. Olivier makes nimble use of ^'•.^.^,»,».V'.%''>'.'«'.V>V>'^ ventions—this is a formidable task. this device repeatedly, transforming Olivier brings to it, above all else, a the awkward asides and soliloquies of keen intelligence, an ability to think the play into bold, cynical comments FOUR FRESHMEN BEST through the words of Shakespeare to upon the advancing action. It adds SELLER a vivid, visual setting for them, and a whole new dimension to the play a deep feeling for the poetry itself, Newest album and to the character. for the music of the lines, that is by the nation's Much of the later action of the reflected not only in his own readings sharpest original—the court intrigues, the re­ but also in the superb casts he has quartet. peated denunciations—has either been always gathered around himself. The Great tunes. deleted or telescoped, speeding the credit sheets for "Richard III," headed action along to Bosworth Field and by John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, the final clash between Richard and Claire Bloom, Alec Clunes, and Ce- Richmond. Perhaps Olivier might even dric Hardwicke, read like an honor have cut more deeply in pruning away roll of the British theatre. the devious counterplots that clutter AUTHORS:TALENT GOING TO WASTE? And so let it be said first of this the second half of his film. Missing, If you are the talented author of an unpublished "Richard III" that the poetry is there though, is Queen Margaret, whose half- manuscript, let us help you gain the recognition you deserve. We will publish your book—we will —in the rich, melancholy tones of mad maledictions served as the bony edit, design, print, promote, advertise and sell It! Low subsidies, good royalties. Gielgud's Clarence, in Richardson's understructure of Shakespeare's ram­ WRITE FOR FREE BOOKLET. DEPT. AT 356 dulcet, scheming Buckingham, in bling history: the fate of each of the GOMET PRESS BOOKS, 11 W. 42 ST., N. Y. 36, N. Y. Claire Bloom's distraught innocence central figures was dictated by her as Lady Anne, even in the sardonic, early curse. Missing too, by conse­ rasping voice that Olivier has as­ quence, is the magnificent scene in sumed for the title role. Even which Margaret, Elizabeth, and the such minor roles as Norman Wool- Duchess of York, three successive Film Programs Puzzling? and's Catesby, Alec Clunes's Hast­ Queens of England, sit upon the ground and mourn together the Complete New index of 16mm filmre ­ ings, and Helen Haye as the unhappy bloody extinction of their royal lines. views and feature articles which have Duchess of York are handled with appeared in SR's "Ideas on Films" rare distinction. Throughout there is Without Margaret's curses, however, the purely sensual pleasure of hearing and "Film Forum" now available. and their implication of divine retri­ Shakespeare's lines beautifully spoken. bution at work, Olivier's Richard be­ Send lOiii in stamps to cover William Walton's music provides an comes wholly a mental case, a twisted, apposite accompaniment to the flow paranoiac villain driven by a lust for handling and postage to of words, whether punctuating the power and, even more basically, by coronation ceremony with sharp trum­ a will to dominate. The former wins FILMS pet flourishes or underlining with for him the crown through devious muted, half-heard woodwinds the evil stratagems and cold-blooded mur­ plans of Richard. THE SATURDAY REVIEW der. But once he has reached the In adapting one of Shakespeare's throne, once the golden round sits 25 West 45 Street lesser plays to the screen Olivier has upon his brow, he quickly realizes New York 36, N. Y. permitted himself considerably more that power alone is not what satisfies freedom than was possible in either him. There is a marvelous, mystic

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED moment during Pichard's coronation mon foot-soldiers. In a muddy gully when everything is stilled and the they close in on him and hack him Stage Comments fruition of all his evil plans seems to pieces as dogs would tear at a to bring an instant of pure content­ wild animal. Historical accui'acy is N TAILORING "Richard III," one ment to his warped soul. Then Lady followed as Richai'd's body, ti'ussed of Shakespeare's most chaotic Anne, his wife, faints in the nexl o\-cr a pack horse, is' slowl\' cai'ried I plays, Sir Laurence Olivier has room and Richard is brougln back to oil' the field of battle. taken mioro liberties with the text jcality. back to his need to force his Cuj-iousi.w the more obvious cine­ than he did in either of his two previ­ will on others and otheis to his will. matic moments prove the least suc­ ous Shakespearean films. As Sir Lau- By scornfully denying Buckingham. cessful. The procession of ghosts that j'ence points out, "For a new movie lhe henchman of all his crimes, his apipears to Richard and Richmond on audience, which isn't supposed to re­ promised share in the hard-won the night before the battle (always alize 'Richard III' is the last of an booty—"I am not in the giving vein av>'kward in the theatre), now comes involved cycle of four historical plays, today"'—Richard commits what can to Richard as a series of decidedly you must deal with the shape of the only be interpreted as an act of wilful unghostly double-exposures. And the plot and the progress of the picture in self-destruction. From that moment battle itself, although executed on the a new way. By editing and transpos­ ing, and just plain horsing around, you on he rushes down the bloody path grand scale of "Henry V," remains have to get the story flowing." to doom. remote and confused, with lots of All of this Olivier has imagined with soldiers and lots of horses but a lack a keen perception for visual effect. of identification as to just whose sol­ TEXTUAL: He has changed dozens of The very first image is a slow tilt diers or whose horses they are. They words and phrases. Some changes, like down from a huge crown that domi­ swirl across the screen in a series of "raze our helms" to "chop off our nates the throne room to the actual shots that seem to have been collected heads," are simply for the purpose of coronation of Edward, from which at random, generating no mounting making archaic phrases intelligible to the camera wanders on to Richard's tension—and all giving way abruptly contemporary audiences. Others try to cold, twisted, envious face. Two to Richard's stumbling entrance make the puzzling swarm of identities priests look on through Richard's shrieking, "A horse! A horse! My clearer by replacing "My Lady Grey" early plotting with Buckingham in kingdom for a horse!" with "Our upstart queen," etc. Per­ unfeigned, but unspoken, astonish­ But these are minor defects in a haps none of these will startle the ment. Richard's misshapen shadow masterful achievement. The imagina­ Shakespearean scholars as much as his falls across a scene, hinting eloquently tion and interpretive power that Oli­ replacement of the corpse of Henry VI at the villainy that he has set afoot. vier first displayed in his "Henry V" with the corpse of Henry's son Ed­ The staging of Richard's pretended is now coupled with a firm, sure grasp ward. Perhaps it is more significant rejection of the crown while Bucixin' • of film technique. The calculated over- for Richard to win his Anne over her ham extols his virtues conveys not stressing of "effects" and directorial husband's corpse than her father's. only Richard's sardonic hypocrisy but touches that dominated and marred Not only has "Henry VI" supplied also the people's instinctive distrust of his "Hamlet" are now controlled to the coronation scene which begins the the man. Naturally, the slaughter of illuminate and advance the text. Cer­ film, but generous chunks of Richard's the two young Princes in the Tower tainly, "Richard III" is not as great third-act soliloquy in that play have of London, narrated in the play, is a play as either of its predecessors; been inserted into the movie. British shown in the film. Most effective of but from it Olivier has wrought a tradition also lends the film a "God all is the final sequence when Rich­ greater film—a film that constantly save King Richard! May the King live ard, whose pennant is The Boar, is intrigues the eye and delights the ear. forever!" And CoUey Gibber contrib­ unhorsed and run to earth by com­ —ARTHUR KNIGHT. utes some of his famous eighteenth- century amendments. "Off with his head! So much for Buckingham!" and the facetiously-spoken "Richard's himself again" are Gibber inventions. *'\.;- CUTS: Since long speeches tend to "'"••^....f^-f^fe*'-'"'-'' fatigue the moviegoer, who expects a flow of motion, Sir Laurence has elim­ inated the cursing Queen Margaret, who had the fourth longest role in the play. The third longest role, that of Queen Elizabeth, has been greatly |«4- .

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED