Welcome back to Everything But Bone. This time we are looking at something other than a horror movie – we’re going into Shakespeare territory. Now before you run away, the adaptation I’m talking about today is Richard Loncraine’s epic, violent, and endlessly creative Richard III, with none other than Ian McKellen in the title role. Transplanting the plot from medieval times to an alternative fascist 30s England, this Richard III is an excellent example of how a world can be built upon a text and vice versa.
For the unaware, Richard III is one of the bard’s longer plays; the whole thing is around four hours long without any cuts. There are also like a billion characters, so it’s sometimes hard keeping them all straight. Any adaptation of the play usually has to trim the fat, and Loncraine’s version is especially lean and mean.
The story goes something like this: Richard, Duke of Gloucester, really wants to be king of England. Unfortunately there are many people in his way, from his older brothers down to his child nephews. After his family takes back the throne during the War of the Roses, Ol’Dick starts murdering his way to the top.
One of the aspects I love about this film is that it’s a genre blender. Again, it is the adaptation that does this. It’s a war movie, a political thriller, an action film, a family drama, and there are even some horror-esque moments too. In the play, the many murders take place off stage. Not here! The audience gets to see the bloodshed as a result of Richard’s coup. If graphic murders aren’t enough to qualify it as horror, there is even a well-timed jump scare. Don’t worry, it serves the plot.
Why move the setting? Allohistorial allusion, aka the speculation of a possible history using a real world setting. The story of Shakespere’s Richard III is analogous to that of a fascist state. A blood thirsty man wants to rule his nation with absolute power and fights a war to keep it. Sounds familiar right? Loncraine’s version of the story being set in the 1930s functions to invite a reading as allegory for the rise of the Nazis and, if you look a little closer at the casting choices of certain characters, as critical of the British Royal family at the time.
Queen Elizabeth is played by American Annette Bening and she keeps her accent in her role. Elizabeth, both in the play and in real life, was seen as a social climber and unworthy to be queen. By having her be American and married to a man named Edward, viewers are meant to see her as Wallis Simpson, the unpopular woman that Edward VIII infamously abdicated the throne for.
On the other end of family, Loncraine has the victorious Richmond be a stand in for Prince Phillip (Yes, that one), his costumes as a naval officer sell the connection. Queen Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth of York appears in this adaption. She is usually a ghost with no dialogue and there are only references to her existence in the text. Loncraine has her present in her family’s scenes and even gives her a line. Since she gets to marry Richmond at the end of the film, Loncraine has his post-Richard England ruled by allusions to the real life (and still current) rulers.
When I said this film is an action movie I meant it; the opening is a thrilling interpretation of the Battle of Tewkesbury, where Richard and his forces kill the enemy king and his son. You can’t get much better of a set piece than having a freaking tank bust into a building. And it’s not the only war scene. The conclusion of the film is the battle of Bosworth Field, filmed at the ever imposing Battersea Power Station, downtown London by the Thames. I’ve been there and it’s amazing how Loncraine was able to use it and other locations to become Richard’s fascist England. Real world buildings are transformed and given new purposes, making the world of the film more grounded and believable.
The costume design here is the primary way that the film parallels the Nazis. Richard and his loyalists gradually start to wear black uniforms that are similar to the SS. And that’s not all Richard and his cronies get up to. As he takes control of the throne, Richard holds a rally for his supporters that is straight outta Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. I know in today’s world goddamn Nazis are coming back, and the invoking of their style and colors might be extra unpleasant to people but, like Indiana Jones, it might just be nice to see them get their asses kicked.
I know I said I don’t want to look at dialogue in storytelling for this column but there is a moment in this film where the choices around the spoken word are visual. Famously, in the play Richard shouts “a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” as his original horse is killed under him during Bosworth. As Loncraine’s film takes place in the 30s, when equine cavalries were going out of style, our director doesn’t cut the line. Richard gets his jeep stuck in the mud and laments that he doesn’t have a horse to get him out of danger.
It’s a great moment showing that what’s around dialogue can change its meaning.
All in all, 1995’s Richard III is one of my favorite of the bard’s adaptations. McKellen is fun to watch as Richard and he hams it up in the best ways possible. Familiar faces from British media fill out the cast and give great performances all around. If you’re a person nervous about Shakespeare, Loncraine’s Richard III is a very accessible film. The style choices are made with deliberate care and it shows. If you’re going to do Shakespeare, you might as well go all out.
