Spine 213: Richard III

Laurence Olivier plays a power-hungry outsider with a distinct physical feature and speech patterns whose ascension to power allows him to imprison his political enemies and ultimately leads to war. There are no parallels. Just kidding. Olivier based his portrayal of the title character in Richard III (1955) on Hitler, as he'd done when he first played the role in this Shakespearean play on stage in 1944. Surely there are no new lessons to be learnt from this. Olivier also directs and adapted, and what a job he did at each. A fantastic job. The best job. Lot's of people talking about how great a job he did.