My Grading System

A+ = Masterpiece (I hold back on this one.) / A = Great. / A- = Really Good. / B+ = Good. / B = Decent (Serviceable). / B- = Flawed but okay (For those times there's something redeeming about the work). / C+ = Not very good (Skip it). C = Bad. / C- = Awful. / F = Complete Disaster (I hold back on this one too).

Note on Spoilers: I will try to avoid ruining a story by going into too much detail. But if I wish to include some revealing points to my analysis I will try to remember to add a separate spoiler paragraph.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Richard III (1955)

Laurence Olivier returns to Shakespeare to play the Bard’s greatest anti-hero.   While I didn’t enjoy this one as much as his adaptation of Henry V it’s still a grand work of ‘50s cinema.  Olivier plays to the camera and while I didn’t really love the way he played Richard I do think it is an effective choice.  For me the wig was a distraction.   Ultimately I’m holding out that someone comes along and gives us a great version of this play.  The 1995 film starring Ian McKellen is probably the best right now (with Looking for Richard starring Al Pacino another wonderful mediation on the play) I’m hoping we can someday experience this story with most of the text intact.  Grade:  B+

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