Richard III is a 1955 British Technicolor film adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3.

Featuring many noted Shakespearean actors, including a quartet of knights, the film depicts Richard plotting and conspiring to grasp the throne from his brother King Edward IV, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke.

The prologue of the film states that history without its legends would be "a dry matter indeed", implicitly admitting to the artistic licence that Shakespeare applied to the events of the time.

Of the three Shakespearean films directed by Olivier, Richard III received the least critical praise at the time, although it was still acclaimed.

After Edward's coronation in the Great Hall, with his brothers George and Richard watching, he leaves with his wife and sons.

Richard contemplates the throne, before advancing towards the audience and then addressing them, delivering a speech that outlines his physical deformities, including a hunched back and a withered arm.

Richard then orchestrates disorder at court, fueling rivalries and stirring antipathy toward the Queen consort, Elizabeth (Mary Kerridge).

The King, weakened by exhaustion, appoints Richard as Lord Protector and dies soon after hearing of the death of George.

With all obstacles now removed, Richard enlists the help of his cousin the Duke of Buckingham (Sir Ralph Richardson) to alter his public image, and to become popular with the people.

Buckingham had aided Richard on terms of being given the title of Earl of Hereford and its income, but balks at the idea of murdering the two princes.

Richard then asks an ambitious knight, Sir James Tyrrel (Patrick Troughton), to kill the princes.

However, Mills thought the idea might be regarded as "stunt casting", and Attenborough had to turn down the part due to a scheduling conflict.

[5] The film's marketers in the US picked up on the fact that the cast included four knights (Olivier, Richardson, Gielgud and Hardwicke) and used this as a selling point.

Like Cibber and Garrick, Olivier's film opens with material from the last scenes of Henry VI, Part 3, to introduce more clearly the situation at the beginning of the story.

John Cottrell has been quoted as saying this makes "the young widow's seduction even more daring and revolting than it is in the original, and [gives] Anne's capitulation" in the second part after a passionate kiss "a new and neurotic twist".

Olivier also silently mimes some actions spoken of in his soliloquies such as when he whispers insinuations about Clarence into the ear of King Edward.

It's not until the little princes come on that the story forms that nice river sweep, going swiftly to its conclusion from about halfway through the play.

Near the beginning of the film Richard's herald drops his coronet, a mistake that Olivier decided to keep in, as part of the motif of accidental loss of the crown continued in the final battle.

During one sequence therein, Olivier suffered an arrow wound to the shin when his horse jerked forwards causing the expert archer to miss.

His work programme was exhausting; yet he could just sit down in a chair and close his eyes for a short time, then walk straight onto the set and act a long scene perfectly despite the enormous burden he carried of being producer, director, and leading man.

[5] The score was composed by Sir William Walton, who worked on all of the films Olivier directed except The Prince and the Showgirl.

The film's music was also used for a set of readings of speeches from the play on audio CD featuring John Gielgud.

The character is so convincing that most of us who think of that king at all instantly see the slit-eyed, snaky, deformed embodiment of evil probably best depicted by Laurence Olivier.

Richard III opened at the Leicester Square Theatre on 13 December 1955, with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attending the premiere.

[21] The film, although slightly cut for television, was generally well received by critics, with Olivier's performance earning particular notice, but as a result of its simultaneous release through television and cinemas in the US, it was a box office failure, and many critics felt at the time that it was not as well-made as Olivier's previous films.

[citation needed] In The New York Times, Olivier observed that the film makes Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London "practically adjacent", but adds that "if they weren't like that, they should have been".

[36] The British Film Institute suggests Olivier's Richard III may have done more to popularise Shakespeare than any other piece of work.

Unlike the previous releases before it that were made from different and inferior source elements, Criterion performed their own restoration and digital transfer.