A work of genius. Nay, a masterclass in iambic delivery; its volume, rhythm, beats, syntax -- all superlative. How a person can understand such language and give it such emotional gravitas is an inspiration to all. God bless Olivier.
I know people in the modern day would like to ridicule and parody Olivier and his pattern of speech...but I did not need to read to script while he spoke to see EVERY IMAGE and FEEL IT when he transformed into Richard III.
@@Synochra most actors I met spoke how his cadence is mechanical. I completely disagree, but some modern actors who are in the Shakespeare world that I’ve met have said this. But it’s their opinion.
Try this. Recite the words with his pauses, his emphases, his phrasing. Use the same motions he does with his eyelids, his eyebrows, his withered shrub of an arm, his halting gait that makes dogs bark. Then turn toward the camera and away from the camera in his own choreography. While casting your voice out and returning it like a veteran fly fisherman. Do all these artful things. Then tell me he is less than God Incarnate upon the stage. I won't believe you.
@@milesfolley6840 Time to be slain by fanboys in the coments: Ironicaly many of out morden actors are worse than mechanical. They have no emotions, their faces are always the same in every situation and moment, and those who master some.emotion dont know how to change it to another. They rarely make transitions, its the same problem of our musical taste totday- no variations, no complexity, always the same tune and notes. Its all like a symphony that never leaves a crescendo. Tom Cruise, Ben Afleck, Di Caprio, Keanu R and so on. Thry only appease the girls and some adults that behace like teens.
I have always loved Olivier, I'm not an actor or profess to know what's good or bad. All I know is Laurence Olivier is just mesmerizing, brilliant, authentic and captivating to watch. I love all his Shakespearean soliloquy/monologue's, but most importantly I just enjoy watching him. 🙏🏾
Stunning beyond all measure! The words and the delivery UNEQUALED! Unequaled. One can listen to this over and over again and always be awed. Bravo Sir Laurence Olivier !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The combination of Shakespeare's speech, Olivier's delivery, and the motion picture camera fixating full on--Richard speaks to each of us face to face; we are each his confidant; he unfolds to us his emotion, his greed, his lust for power. Absolutely fascinating.
The monologue is taken from two different ones of Gloucester's & skillfully interlaced & combined into one. Starts with Richard III then back to Henry VI (Part 3) then back again to Richard III then back to Henry to the end of the main speech then climbs the steps, looks out the window & descants about his desire for The Lady Ann, who is then pursued despite her hatred of him
I read this play innumerable times in high school, and I found it so difficult to understand. I heard Olivier in this scene, and the whole play just exploded into reality! Olivier remains the epitome for me of all Shakesperian actors ... and any other role by any other author he performed. Such a genius!!
If you're familiar with "The Red Green Show" in its early years, you might remember a regular segment where Red reads a poem about winter, and that segment was called, "The Winter of our Discount Tent."
He’s being ironic because even though England has passed into a glorious summer, he is in his own personal winter of discontent because he resents his lot in life and really wants to be the King
It is very difficult for an actor to bring Shakespeare's words to such life that common ordinary, uneducated folk such as me are enchanted by it and actually *understand* it. :) And yet Olivier could do it. It's like music. It's amazing.
I felt this way too. If I was reading this off the page, I don't think I'd have any idea what the fuck I'm reading, but his delivery, the inflections and tone and eyes really convey the meaning excellently.
Scathing! Talk about the art of the insult. Hilarious infact! Probably my favourite piece of prose of all time. Stating the obvious here, but pur Genius. Oliver is a God with this delivery. No one could ever do it better.
It's a joy to be among so many who appreciate this masterpiece. Here's where it comes from: 1. Richard lll, speaking as Gloucester (Richard): Now is the winter of our discontent... 2. Henry Vl, Part lll, Act lll, Scene ll (Henry): Why, love foreswore me in my mother's womb... 3. Richard: Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace... 4. Henry: Then, since this earth affords no joy to me... 5. Unknown. I can't find it. Meantime, I'll marry with the Lady Anne... 6. Henry: That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring....end.
Yes indeed. Except that even in Henry VI (part III), it's still Richard Gloucester who speaks (and not Henry, as you seem to have written ...) For the part you can't find ("Meantime, I'll marry with the Lady Anne. And here she comes, lamenting her lost love Edward, Prince of Wales", this is a line written by Olivier for the movie, followed by "whom I some small time since Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury- A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman This spacious world cannot again afford- And made her widow to a woeful bed" (this if from Act I, Scene 2 of Richard III, in the "Was ever woman in this humour wooed ?" monologue), "That from his loins no hopeful branch might spring To cross me from the golden time I look for." (and this from Henry VI as you rightly said)
Still brilliant - BTW the Lady Ann was his childhood sweet heart - she had been forced to marry York dynastically - Richard and Ann loved each other very much and their marriage was a true love match
justyouraveragetwitterstan I think it’s true. Anne was manipulated into marrying Edward of Lancaster but I think Richard he did love her. He most likely also wanted her inheritance as well but he gave up most of it to marry her so that masked me think that Richard iii loves his queen
Bravo, it s a real pleasure to hear a performance at this level of perfection..... Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. 5 Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; Our bruised arms hung up for monuments; Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; 10 And now, instead of mounting barded steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, 15 Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass; I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph; I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 20 Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them; Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, 25 Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to spy my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity: And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, To entertain these fair well-spoken days, 30 I am determined to prove a villain And hate the idle pleasures of these days. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams, To set my brother Clarence and the king 35 In deadly hate the one against the other: And if King Edward be as true and just As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up over a prophesy which says that "G of Edwards heirs shall the murder be." Dive thoughts down to my soul, here Clarence comes."
Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths Our bruised arms hung up for monuments Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings Our dreadful marches to delightful measures Grim-visag'd war hath smoothed his wrinkled front And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton, ambling nymph I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion Cheated of feature by dissembling nature Deform'd, unfinished, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them Why love forswore me in my mother's womb: And, for I should not deal in her soft laws, She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe, To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub; To hip an envious mountain on my back, To shape my legs of an unequal size; To disproportion me in every part, Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp That carries no impression like the dam. While, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time. Unless to spy my shadow in the sun And descant on mine own deformity Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear Such as are of better person than myself, I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown, And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, Until this mis-shaped trunk that bears this head Be round impaled with a glorious crown. But yet I know not how to get the crown, For many lives stand between me and home: And I,-like one lost in a thorny wood, That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns Seeking a way and straying from the way; Not knowing how to find the open air, But toiling desperately to find it out,- Torment myself to catch the English crown: And from that torment I will free myself, Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile, And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions. I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall; I'll play the orator as well as Nestor, Deceive more slily than Ulysses could, And, like a Sinon, take another Troy. I can add colours to the chameleon, Change shapes with Proteus for advantages, And set the murderous Machiavel to school. Can I do this, and cannot get a crown? Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
Midtime, I’ll marry with the Lady Anne And here she comes Lamenting her lost love Edward, Prince of Wales Whoa I small-time sins Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewksbury A sweeter and lovely gentleman This spacious world cannot again afford And made her widow to a woeful bed That from his loins No hopeful branch might spring To cross me from the time I look for
"... stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury" - I just love that line and his delivery. He makes a premeditated murder sound like a minor inconvenience he took care of one idle afternoon.
He actually delivers one of the creepiest turns in film history. Oliver’s performance in this movie is so frightening at times that it could easily stand against any horror film.
+Daxkalak Btw, I love looking at the Technicolor that this movie was shot in back then. Apparently, Shakespeare had one foot in the historical world and one foot in the mythical, where everything and everyone is amplified and charged with a supernormal energy. If you look at such stories/plays with just your modern historical/empirical eye, then you miss the whole point.
Greatest Shakespeare portrayals I've ever seen of characters I'd play if I were a decent actor. Richard III - Laurence Olivier Mark Antony - Marlon Brando Henry V - Kenneth Branagh The Ghost - Paul Scofield Puck - Stanley Tucci Caliban - Djimon Honsou Benvolio - Dash Mihok Cassio - Nathaniel Parker MacDuff - Sean Harris Don Pedro - Denzel Washington Lear's Fool - Sylvester McCoy Lucentio - Michael York
I would defo add John Geilgud as Cassius and then again, John Geilgud as Caeser to this list as well. But Laurence as Richard the third and Brando as Marc Anthony defo top the list for me as well, with Geilgud's performances a close third and fourth Defo need to check out some of the others on your lists tho, so thanks for this
Why this way is so impressive? First of all because it remains so difficult to me to find another Richard as TERRIFIC as Olivier. His pronounciation of English is so eye-catching. Seriously I have boosebumps and feel scared... Fucking brillant...!
This is not the full speech...well it’s a mix of the “winter of our discontent’” speech and bits of others from “Henry VI Part 3” , in which he was also a main character
just noticed the massive crown hanging above the throne at 3:40. Contemporary interpretations almost always focus on "realism" or worse, "update" the play and change the historical setting...I much prefer the simpler, though more symbolic, touches of the old school plays like this one.
3:40“Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile, And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart,And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,And frame my face for all occasions”
I can’t help thinking how proud Vivien Leigh must have been to be married to this genius of a man ; without him in her life, she never appeared to be the woman or the actress that she had been.She always kept his photo on her dressing-room table.Very sad.
The part of Richard's soliloquy that begins, "Love forswore me in my mother's womb" is actually from "Henry VI, Part III." It confused me when I heard him the first time. Olivier also used this version of Richard's speech on what I think was a radio production.
Sometimes parts of the Henry VI Part III is incorporated into this so the audience can understand Richard’s motive better. In fact, most of this was not from the actual Richard III. How do I know? I read it.
They say that history is always written by the victors. In this case, it's definitely true, and that is sad. Anyone who has studied Richard 3 knows that Shakespeare's description of him isn't very accurate. Most recent studies say he was a short guy with thin limbs and BAD scoliosis. I mean... BAAAAAAD scoliosis. I've seen his alleged skeleton, and that poor bastard must have been in intense pain all his life.
To recognise that the second scene from act 3 could be added to the first scene shows genius. It really works but it should have been rounded with "inductions have I laid etc"
I prefer hearing this missing portion as it further delivers the groundwork already enacted by this arch villain to demonstrate to the audience his soliloquy is not just angry outburst and nothing more. He indeed means all he says.
I am about to rewind Gielgud in "Prospero's Books" as written and directed by Greenaway. I recognize the touches given by the Royal Shakespearean Society
'And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them...' That observational and hyperbolic detail is Shakespeare. He couldn't just say, I'm stumbling along unfashionable and ugly. You have to have the image of dogs barking at him. Lol
Shakespeare may have maligned Richard III. Yet his play and commentary on the subject remains riveting to this day. And who better to sell it than Olivier.
Carnal made by a dying flame, I dare to raise you up again, So said the Christ on the crux, And called out from where he was stuck, I lay me down my own salvation, Upon my back the human nation - Streightoff
The real Richard ironically was allot different than Shakespeare's Richard. The few real aspects of Richard from the play to the historical person was his deformity, withered arm and a hunch because of his twisted spine when they found his skeleton after so many years, and of course a true warrior in real life.
imagine walking into the wrong door and this guy starts talking to you like this
Lol
Jes Kvell id take notes, sounds like it would make a decent play
In 'Westworld' that could be a real possibility.
Omg 😂😂😂😂😂
/opens door/
Richard III: "Do you mind!?"
Me: /shuts the door/
Imagine being an actor auditioning for Richard and the guy before you does this lol
As you're looking at the script being like, "wait, I memorised a different speech."
Lol
I’d get my coat
Thats when you crank it up to 11 lol
"Anyone need a tea maid"
Possibly the greatest four and a half minuets of English writing and acting. Truly amazing.
AJ Shakespeare was alright, but he was no Ta Nahesi Coates lol.
Bloody brilliant
Between him and Ken Branagh
hear! hear!
"Whom I, some small time since, stabbed in my angry mood, at Tewkesbury."
We've all been there, Richard.
Most underrated comment ever
I love the intro to Richard III because he makes you a co-conspirator in his evil, to the point where you almost root for him
That's the challenge of playing this tole: the audience HAS to like you a little or it doesn't work.
Almost
Probably inspired house of cards
@@Vpopov81 Richardson in the original House of Cards (I don't like the US version) clearly based Urquhart on Olivier's Richard III
The audience pretty much roots automatically for a character who’s ambitious and whose motivation they know intimately. It’s human nature.
A work of genius. Nay, a masterclass in iambic delivery; its volume, rhythm, beats, syntax -- all superlative. How a person can understand such language and give it such emotional gravitas is an inspiration to all. God bless Olivier.
I'm going to memorize this speech for the next time a cop pulls me over and asks me if I know what the speed limit is.
that will throw him.
So how'd that work out for you?
60 odd years on and its still wonderful.
Olivier shows his majesty right here.
I know people in the modern day would like to ridicule and parody Olivier and his pattern of speech...but I did not need to read to script while he spoke to see EVERY IMAGE and FEEL IT when he transformed into Richard III.
Do people ridicule this though? I am stunned by this performance
@@Synochra most actors I met spoke how his cadence is mechanical. I completely disagree, but some modern actors who are in the Shakespeare world that I’ve met have said this. But it’s their opinion.
I hear, feel, and see every word, every image he speaks. Olivier's performance is magical-- how have I never seen this before?
Try this. Recite the words with his pauses, his emphases, his phrasing. Use the same motions he does with his eyelids, his eyebrows, his withered shrub of an arm, his halting gait that makes dogs bark. Then turn toward the camera and away from the camera in his own choreography. While casting your voice out and returning it like a veteran fly fisherman. Do all these artful things.
Then tell me he is less than God Incarnate upon the stage. I won't believe you.
@@milesfolley6840 Time to be slain by fanboys in the coments: Ironicaly many of out morden actors are worse than mechanical. They have no emotions, their faces are always the same in every situation and moment, and those who master some.emotion dont know how to change it to another. They rarely make transitions, its the same problem of our musical taste totday- no variations, no complexity, always the same tune and notes. Its all like a symphony that never leaves a crescendo. Tom Cruise, Ben Afleck, Di Caprio, Keanu R and so on. Thry only appease the girls and some adults that behace like teens.
I'm enthralled by this performance. The meter and the rhyme, in crescendo to an explosive and brutal climax. Amazing.
Reminds me of Merrie Melodies/original Looney Tunes
I have always loved Olivier, I'm not an actor or profess to know what's good or bad. All I know is Laurence Olivier is just mesmerizing, brilliant, authentic and captivating to watch.
I love all his Shakespearean soliloquy/monologue's, but most importantly I just enjoy watching him. 🙏🏾
He looks like Lord Farquaad
Lord Farquaad was made to look like him
omg exactly what I was thinking xD
Literally read that when I though about it!
Took the words from my mouth!
What's that sound? Oh it's OK, just Shakespeare turning in his grave.
Looks like Sir Laurence Olivier performing Richard III. ^^
Shakespeare would have been amazed by this performance. No-one will ever claim to be the equal of Laurence Olivier.
Great Acting by the World's Greatest Actor Laurence Olivier
Beautiful ain't it. And yet, here was an actor who longed to appear opposite Bernard Youens on Coronation Street.
Hm.
Plenty will claim it. But they'll be wrong.
I think Sir Ian McKellen nailed this performance in his movie.
Breathtaking! Simply breathtaking. Olivier is a master, a virtuoso, Beethoven on the stage. He speaks like Pavarotti sings.
What a great actor Laurence Olivier was. Even actors like Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart regarded Olivier as the finest of his peers.
Stunning beyond all measure! The words and the delivery UNEQUALED! Unequaled. One can listen to this over and over again and always be awed. Bravo Sir Laurence Olivier !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laurence Olivier was brilliant.
can you even imagine most of the so called actors today mumbling that speech
I've watched this over and over again. Such wonderful writing and great acting. He did such a good job!
Absolutely first-class. Both the delivery, photography and direction was spellbindingly good.
The combination of Shakespeare's speech, Olivier's delivery, and the motion picture camera fixating full on--Richard speaks to each of us face to face; we are each his confidant; he unfolds to us his emotion, his greed, his lust for power. Absolutely fascinating.
Disturbing Hair = John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon..
Opening Co-conspirator monologue = Ray Liotta seducing you into the GoodFellas life.
All in one take.
My favourite Shakespeare speech, performed by my favourite actor.
Watching this is like witnessing magic!!!
The monologue is taken from two different ones of Gloucester's & skillfully interlaced & combined into one.
Starts with Richard III then back to Henry VI (Part 3) then back again to Richard III then back to Henry to the end of the main speech then climbs the steps, looks out the window & descants about his desire for The Lady Ann, who is then pursued despite her hatred of him
I notice when looking for the text this is different. Interesting, the director must have made that choice. Didn’t know that was allowed haha
That is exactly what I thought... I know opening by heart and it wasn't that.
I think it loses a lot of impact by mixing the two up.
Sometimes actors forget few lines and they must furnish the with their words or with what they remember. Might be the case in here
Режисьора е сър Лорънс Оливие
My god! Such fire! Such passion! Truly gods once walked the earth in the guise of minstrels. Shakespeare be praised!
I read this play innumerable times in high school, and I found it so difficult to understand.
I heard Olivier in this scene, and the whole play just exploded into reality!
Olivier remains the epitome for me of all Shakesperian actors ... and any other role by any other author he performed. Such a genius!!
Now is the discount of our winter tents.
Aye, sea, what ewe did their...
Now is the winter of our disco tents.
Lol
Epic !!!!
If you're familiar with "The Red Green Show" in its early years, you might remember a regular segment where Red reads a poem about winter, and that segment was called, "The Winter of our Discount Tent."
For a guy who's left winter of discontent for a glorious summer, he sounds pretty pissed. Must be all those dogs barking at him what done it.
It’s not glorious summer for Richard, he’s being sarcastic because he hates his brother Edward (the son/sun of York) who has just ascended the throne.
No, he got back ache a lot
Must be a cat person
Lmao
He’s being ironic because even though England has passed into a glorious summer, he is in his own personal winter of discontent because he resents his lot in life and really wants to be the King
one of the best speeches i've ever seen
It is very difficult for an actor to bring Shakespeare's words to such life that common ordinary, uneducated folk such as me are enchanted by it and actually *understand* it. :) And yet Olivier could do it. It's like music. It's amazing.
his eyes subconsciously guide your mind to the meaning of what he's saying. it's a brilliant performance
Your comment tells me your heart and soul have the finest education.
I felt this way too. If I was reading this off the page, I don't think I'd have any idea what the fuck I'm reading, but his delivery, the inflections and tone and eyes really convey the meaning excellently.
Incredible makes proud to be English even though England Is dead our culture or traditions buried as we take the knee to others.
hard to proud of ouselves nowadays, we could have in those days, but now the scum taking the knee, in memory of a dirty filthy serial evil criminal
Scathing! Talk about the art of the insult. Hilarious infact!
Probably my favourite piece of prose of all time.
Stating the obvious here, but pur Genius.
Oliver is a God with this delivery. No one could ever do it better.
The magnificence of Sir Laurence Olivier.
Shakespeare did a hatchet job on him, a brave warrior & the last in line of the noble Plantagenets
I think this is Olivier's best Shakespeare performance on film.
Without doubt the greatest performance of Shakespeare's Richard III by any actor.
It's a joy to be among so many who appreciate this masterpiece. Here's where it comes from:
1. Richard lll, speaking as Gloucester (Richard):
Now is the winter of our discontent...
2. Henry Vl, Part lll, Act lll, Scene ll (Henry):
Why, love foreswore me in my mother's womb...
3. Richard:
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace...
4. Henry:
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me...
5. Unknown. I can't find it.
Meantime, I'll marry with the Lady Anne...
6. Henry:
That from his loins no hopeful branch may spring....end.
Yes indeed. Except that even in Henry VI (part III), it's still Richard Gloucester who speaks (and not Henry, as you seem to have written ...)
For the part you can't find ("Meantime, I'll marry with the Lady Anne. And here she comes, lamenting her lost love
Edward, Prince of Wales", this is a line written by Olivier for the movie, followed by "whom I some small time since
Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury-
A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman
This spacious world cannot again afford-
And made her widow to a woeful bed" (this if from Act I, Scene 2 of Richard III, in the "Was ever woman in this humour wooed ?" monologue),
"That from his loins no hopeful branch might spring
To cross me from the golden time I look for." (and this from Henry VI as you rightly said)
Imperious performance. Exorbitant talent. Ruthless delivery of his intentions.
I never could follow, much less appreciate Shakespeare, until I heard Olivier.
Still brilliant - BTW the Lady Ann was his childhood sweet heart - she had been forced to marry York dynastically - Richard and Ann loved each other very much and their marriage was a true love match
Robert Paterson I don’t think that’s true, she was manipulated into marrying him
justyouraveragetwitterstan I think it’s true. Anne was manipulated into marrying Edward of Lancaster but I think Richard he did love her. He most likely also wanted her inheritance as well but he gave up most of it to marry her so that masked me think that Richard iii loves his queen
Now that, my friends is genius.
Bravo, it s a real pleasure to hear a performance at this level of perfection.....
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. 5
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front; 10
And now, instead of mounting barded steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, 15
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, 20
Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, 25
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity:
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days, 30
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king 35
In deadly hate the one against the other:
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up over a prophesy which says that "G of Edwards heirs shall the murder be." Dive thoughts down to my soul, here Clarence comes."
@@gordonbartlett1921 delightful..
The greatest Actor of all time
now that's how you do a Career Day presentation
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York
And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures
Grim-visag'd war hath smoothed his wrinkled front
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute
But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton, ambling nymph
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature
Deform'd, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them
Why love forswore me in my mother's womb:
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To hip an envious mountain on my back,
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp
That carries no impression like the dam.
While, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time.
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
And descant on mine own deformity
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to cheque, to o'erbear
Such as are of better person than myself,
I'll make my heaven to dream upon the crown,
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until this mis-shaped trunk that bears this head
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.
But yet I know not how to get the crown,
For many lives stand between me and home:
And I,-like one lost in a thorny wood,
That rends the thorns and is rent with the thorns
Seeking a way and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out,-
Torment myself to catch the English crown:
And from that torment I will free myself,
Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.
Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'Content' to that which grieves my heart,
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face to all occasions.
I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy.
I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes with Proteus for advantages,
And set the murderous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
Tut, were it farther off, I'll pluck it down.
Midtime, I’ll marry with the Lady Anne
And here she comes
Lamenting her lost love
Edward, Prince of Wales
Whoa I small-time sins
Stabbed in my angry mood at Tewksbury
A sweeter and lovely gentleman
This spacious world cannot again afford
And made her widow to a woeful bed
That from his loins
No hopeful branch might spring
To cross me from the time I look for
Olivier is breathtaking as Richard
Superb....this play helped my love of history blossom......and Olivier was marvellous as Richard....so over the top brilliant!....
Now watch Olivier as Henry V: "St. Crispin's Day" . No doubt Olivier was 20th century’s most brilliant classical actor and Old Bills best !!!
Just watched it. Thank you.
Please don’t forget Boguslaw Linda in eternal classic movie Psy of 1992. Both actors seat on the same throne
Simply breathtaking. Cunning and evil the acting beyond all other artists and the writing......well what can you say!
"... stabbed in my angry mood at Tewkesbury" - I just love that line and his delivery. He makes a premeditated murder sound like a minor inconvenience he took care of one idle afternoon.
I find this hypnotizing. MAGNIFICENT!!!
Sir Laurence Olivier is still the best. I believe he will never be surpassed. I do enjoy other actors but they are not Olivier.
Sir Laurence Olivier is the one and only LORD OF THE STAGE.
He actually delivers one of the creepiest turns in film history. Oliver’s performance in this movie is so frightening at times that it could easily stand against any horror film.
Agree - so subtle yet soooo jarring.
@@mjp152 Excellent taste!👍
Shut up you uncultured Bruins Dog.
@@ciaronsmith4995 😢
My all-time favorite villain. I find it impossible to root against him.
My 18th great Uncle King Richard the 3rd of England, Wonderful!. :)
Fascinante..graxiee !!!!!
I pictured him walking down a cobbled street when I read this opening speech.
+Daxkalak Btw, I love looking at the Technicolor that this movie was shot in back then. Apparently, Shakespeare had one foot in the historical world and one foot in the mythical, where everything and everyone is amplified and charged with a supernormal energy. If you look at such stories/plays with just your modern historical/empirical eye, then you miss the whole point.
All in one take. Couldn't do that now. Our limited attention spans would have us checking our phones after 20 seconds !
I’m actually slowly memorizing it! I have 8 lines memorized and it’s only been two weeks!
Greatest Shakespeare portrayals I've ever seen of characters I'd play if I were a decent actor.
Richard III - Laurence Olivier
Mark Antony - Marlon Brando
Henry V - Kenneth Branagh
The Ghost - Paul Scofield
Puck - Stanley Tucci
Caliban - Djimon Honsou
Benvolio - Dash Mihok
Cassio - Nathaniel Parker
MacDuff - Sean Harris
Don Pedro - Denzel Washington
Lear's Fool - Sylvester McCoy
Lucentio - Michael York
I would defo add John Geilgud as Cassius and then again, John Geilgud as Caeser to this list as well. But Laurence as Richard the third and Brando as Marc Anthony defo top the list for me as well, with Geilgud's performances a close third and fourth
Defo need to check out some of the others on your lists tho, so thanks for this
Olivia Hussey as Juliet
harry lennix in titus beats everybody!
@BrokenWolf,etc. Had you ever seen the late Bob Hoskins as Iago? Great piece of work in one of the longest roles in Shakespeare.
I think I prefer Heston's Mark Antony
He was the very best. ;)
5:12; "A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman this spacious world
cannot again afford." he, he 🤭
Shakespeare, the moon landings, early Kraftwerk.....these are the things humanity can be proud of.
Greatest Shakespearian by far . who ye said to another ..at an audition
"Come back when one is better"
Why this way is so impressive? First of all because it remains so difficult to me to find another Richard as TERRIFIC as Olivier. His pronounciation of English is so eye-catching. Seriously I have boosebumps and feel scared... Fucking brillant...!
I strive to be the Richard of our age, but alas, I have no more brothers to slay!
Laurence Olivier is so excellent here.
I’m literally studying this at the moment, brilliant, it just happens to appear in my recommendations, haunting me
The Bard rules! Sir Lawrence at his right hand!
Larry I love youuuuuuuuu....thanks for everything ......
Magnificent
This is not the full speech...well it’s a mix of the “winter of our discontent’” speech and bits of others from “Henry VI Part 3” , in which he was also a main character
Thank you. I looked at the text and found discrepancies. Then next Q I had was from where comes the text not found in Richard III.
IskalkaQuest2010 Cheers! Glad I could help.
Thanks
And it's spoken effortlessly.
Pure
The last monarch to personally lead the charge into battle - cut down in his early 30's.
God bless the last Plantagenet.
Didn't George II lead his troops into battle?
And God bless the poor nephews he probably had smothered in the featherbed
@@krabbykat9918 and God bless the Tudors for hiding behind their army and smearing his image with Shakespeares propaganda
@@DanielMumby George II was on the field , little more
Long live the king!
Perfect amount of rambling character development / exposition.
hits hard.
Now that’s how you do it🤩Acting at its finest that will never be matched
just noticed the massive crown hanging above the throne at 3:40. Contemporary interpretations almost always focus on "realism" or worse, "update" the play and change the historical setting...I much prefer the simpler, though more symbolic, touches of the old school plays like this one.
That's likely because we live in an age influence heavily by realism as opposed to the romanticist influences of the original context.
But the fascist setting for Richard III used by Ian McKellen puts an interesting spin on this story.
3:40“Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart,And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,And frame my face for all occasions”
I can’t help thinking how proud Vivien Leigh must have been to be married to this genius of a man ; without him in her life, she never
appeared to be the woman or the actress that she had been.She always kept his photo on her dressing-room table.Very sad.
Wow. This man was a virtuoso of the stage. He was larger than life.
The part of Richard's soliloquy that begins, "Love forswore me in my mother's womb" is actually from "Henry VI, Part III." It confused me when I heard him the first time. Olivier also used this version of Richard's speech on what I think was a radio production.
BTW, Richard's nose also appears to be rather large.
Sometimes parts of the Henry VI Part III is incorporated into this so the audience can understand Richard’s motive better. In fact, most of this was not from the actual Richard III. How do I know? I read it.
i remember watching this in english class a few months ago we finished the whole play a couple days ago
Why did it take so long so finish the play?
@@lorddaver5729 cuz we watched it every now and again and the teacher always rewinded it back a few mins and we only watched it for like 10/20 mins
the winter of discontent of 1978-79 brought glorious summers by this grocer's daughter (hahahahaha)
Great sir Lawrence Olivier. Simply great!
It's spelled "Laurence."
“This guy,” is Lord Laurence Olivier!
They say that history is always written by the victors. In this case, it's definitely true, and that is sad. Anyone who has studied Richard 3 knows that Shakespeare's description of him isn't very accurate. Most recent studies say he was a short guy with thin limbs and BAD scoliosis. I mean... BAAAAAAD scoliosis. I've seen his alleged skeleton, and that poor bastard must have been in intense pain all his life.
BrokenWolf1990 how is it not accurate, then?
@@enzo_eleven Because Shakespeare describes him as being a hunchback with one withered arm, which is not remotely the same thing.
Fun fact. Richard III was the inspiration for Frank Underwood in House of Cards, including his regular breaking of the fourth wall.
Sloth from The Goonies Um, know Frank Underwood is based on Francis Urquhart from the original show, right?
Nope.
House of cards is clearly Macbeth.
TheShinigamiInquisition Urquhart is based on Richard
Fun fact: You are full of shit
@@k0inGamesbro, Ummm, you know Francis Urquhart was based on Richard III? Tit.
To recognise that the second scene from act 3 could be added to the first scene shows genius. It really works but it should have been rounded with "inductions have I laid etc"
I prefer hearing this missing portion as it further delivers the groundwork already enacted by this arch villain to demonstrate to the audience his soliloquy is not just angry outburst and nothing more. He indeed means all he says.
I am about to rewind Gielgud in "Prospero's Books" as written and directed by Greenaway. I recognize the touches given by the Royal Shakespearean Society
It occured to me this charming monster can turn on anyone.... including You!
Great performance by lord farquad
'And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them...'
That observational and hyperbolic detail is Shakespeare. He couldn't just say, I'm stumbling along unfashionable and ugly. You have to have the image of dogs barking at him. Lol
The only better opening is hamlet, 'who's there?'
Peter Seller's Hard Days Night brought me here!
It has been a hard day's night and I have been working like a dog!!!
Shakespeare may have maligned Richard III. Yet his play and commentary on the subject remains riveting to this day. And who better to sell it than Olivier.
Queen Elizabeth was King Henry VII's granddaughter. I'm sure Shakespeare had that in mind while writing the play.
@@bernhardwall6876 Good point.
“Run run run as fast as you can! You can’t catch me, IM THE GINGERBREAD MAN!!!”
Carnal made by a dying flame,
I dare to raise you up again,
So said the Christ on the crux,
And called out from where he was stuck,
I lay me down my own salvation,
Upon my back the human nation
- Streightoff
Splendid.
I love the line I'll drown more sailors than the mermaids shall. The way he says it is very sinister
this speech is a great cut of the end of richard of york and the beginning of richard iii
Say rather,Ryan, that Farquaard was fashioned after Richard....who did after all come first.
Imagine being this guy's therapist :)
Now is the winter of discontent made fine summer by this sun of Stark
The real Richard ironically was allot different than Shakespeare's Richard. The few real aspects of Richard from the play to the historical person was his deformity, withered arm and a hunch because of his twisted spine when they found his skeleton after so many years, and of course a true warrior in real life.
....and , of course, he had nothing to do with the "disappearance" of his nephews.....that must have been somebody else.....