{"id":11626,"date":"2015-06-16T21:49:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T01:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11626"},"modified":"2015-06-17T00:48:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-17T04:48:45","slug":"shakespeare-transposed-richard-iii-1995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=11626","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare Transposed: Richard III (1995)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Richard_III_BR\"<\/a>I\u2019ve been a huge fan of Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen\u2019s version of Shakespeare\u2019s Richard III<\/strong><\/a>, knowing the film I caught in cinemas in 1995 was really unique. The initial jarring reaction of hearing the Bard\u2019s prose spoken in a fascist Orwellian England during the 1930s vanished when it became clear the look, sound, performances and locations within this amazing little film were so refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"Richard_III_poster\"<\/a>As the poster demonstrates, McKellen wasn\u2019t yet a major name in the U.S., so the addition of Annette Benning and Robert Downey Jr.\u2019s heads on the poster was a ploy to get more bums into cinemas.<\/p>\n

When Richard III\u2019s actual bones were uncovered in a parking lot a few years ago, it provided historians another opportunity to re-examine the controversial figure whose been portrayed in filmed versions as a conniving crook. Was he so horribly evil, or just another jealous royal doing what anyone with smarts and a flair for spotting opportunity would do?<\/p>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s play and the film, while perhaps florid distortions of bad behaviour, nevertheless remind us of the bloody histories of kingdoms in which assassins, rebellions, and seething jealousies caused power shifts, upset the stability of nations and states, and are part of the deep roots of several modern monarchies.<\/p>\n

Loncraine and McKellen\u2019s film is also noteworthy for being perhaps the first attempt to directly transpose the original text to a more contemporary time setting in film, launching a wave of further efforts in dramas and comedies.<\/p>\n

Besides the direction and performances, a personal attraction is the splendid use of architecture which should interest fans of the Tate Modern, as one of two former coal-fired power plants are featured in the film. Architect Giles Gilbert Scott designed cathedrals, so it\u2019s unsurprising his 1930s creations, especially the Battersea Power Station, resemble cathedrals.<\/p>\n

The Battersea also has an oppressive design which fits in perfectly with Loncraine and McKellen\u2019s fascist resetting; it is a structure that may have been conceived to force a higher regard within its environs for the magic of industrial power, but it\u2019s equally fascistic, much like Soviet and Third Reich architecture designed to diminish the importance of the individual.<\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s designs have an industrial elegance \u2013 they lack the pompous, overbearing grotesquery of Third Reich edifices and monuments \u2013 but the Battersea is perhaps a victim of its intended purpose to feed consumers energy, and by virtue of its mandate, it had to be a giant brick, concrete, and steel bulk that dominates the immediate waterside.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray sports a lovely transfer and sound mix, of which the latter is more evocative of the punch surround sound mixes of the era than the more discrete multi-track 5.1 mixes that followed. I always remember the film\u2019s bass, which itself exploited Trevor Jones\u2019 drone-drenched music of the late 1980s and early 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coming next:<\/em> a lengthy examination of Tippi Hedren\u2019s Roar<\/strong><\/a> (1981), which continues its extended run at the Royal Cinema this month. Also coming shortly thereafter are reviews of Blind Woman\u2019s Curse<\/strong> (1970) from Arrow Video, and a Pat Boone double-bill featuring April Love<\/strong> (1957) from Twilight Time + Bernadine<\/strong> (1957), the latter available nowhere except YouTube.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of Richard Loncraine and Ian McKellen’s superb version of Shakespeare’s Richard III (1995), new on Blu from Twilight Time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[2562,2563,3714,3713,1696,3718,1245,3719],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Richard_III_featured1.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-31w","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11626"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11640,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11626\/revisions\/11640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}