7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
Having helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of York, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson (I), Claire Bloom, Cedric Hardwicke, John GielgudDrama | 100% |
War | 16% |
History | 16% |
Period | 10% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" (1955) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; gallery of behind the scenes and production stills; restoration demonstration with an introduction by director Martin Scorsese; 1966 episode of the BBC series Great Acting; audio commentary with playwright and stage director Russell Lees and John Wilders, former governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company; and more. The release also arrives with an 18-page illustrated booklet featuring Amy Taubin's essay "Red-blooded Richard" and notes on the new restoration of the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York"
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Laurence Olivier's Richard III arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"When it premiered at London's Leicester Square Theatre in December 1955, Richard III ran 161 minutes. Subjected to cuts by both theatrical and television distributors, the film has been shown at various lengths over the years in the United Kingdom and the United States, including versions as much as twenty minutes shorter. In 2012, The Film Foundation completed an extensive digital restoration of a 158-minute cut of the film. This restoration utilized, for the first time, the original VistaVision camera negative, the original YCM separation pro-masters, and footage trimmed from the original negative, to create the longest existing version of the film. All the elements were scanned at 4K resolution at Cineric Inc., in New York, on an Oxberry wet gate scanner. The color correction was done by Sheri Eisenberg at Colorworks, in Culver City, California, using a Baselight 8 color-grading system. The soundtrack was restored from an original 35mm monaural optical track print.
Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Film Foundation. Restored by The Film Foundation and Janus Films, in association with the BFI National Archive, ITV Studios Global Entertainment Ltd., the Museum of Modern Art, and Romulus Films.
Restoration supervisors: Grover Crisp, Tom Heitman.
4K mastering: Colorworks, Culver City, CA.
Digital picture restoration: MTI Film, Hollywood.
Soundtrack restoration: Chance Audio by Deluxe, Burbank, CA."
The new restoration of Richard III is as impressive as the recent restorations of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and The Red Shoes. Indeed, detail and especially image depth are dramatically improved. Close-ups, in particular, look absolutely spectacular (see screencapture #12). The biggest improvements, however, are with color reproduction. There is a wide range of lush and very stable reds, blues, browns, and grays that are simply not present on previous DVD releases of the film. It is very easy to see that different stabilization corrections have been applied as well (many problematic jump cuts, in particular, have been addressed). Furthermore, there are absolutely no traces of problematic degraining corrections. Sharpening corrections have not been applied either. Needless to say, the film looks wonderfully lush and stable, without a shadow of a doubt the very best it ever has. Indeed, this is a mighty impressive restoration. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
It is incredibly easy to tell that various stabilization improvements have been performed. The audio is stable, crisp, and clean. There are no annoying distortions, pops, cracks, or audio dropouts. The overall range of dynamics is excellent, allowing William Walton's score to shine in all the right places.
I have to speculate yet again that had it not been for the invaluable efforts of director Martin Scorsese, this new restoration of Laurence Olivier's Richard III would not have existed. Or at least not at this time. Obviously, a lot of other people contributed to make it possible, but no other director has been as vocal about the restoration and preservation of classic films as Mr. Scorsese. I think it is fair to say that because of him a lot of important films have been saved. The new restoration of Richard III is simply outstanding. I think that together with the recent restoration of The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp it is one of the very best to be released on Blu-ray. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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