Richard III: The Burial of the King | 'Now is the winter of our discontent!'

As Richard III, the last king of York, is reintered at Leicester Cathedral in a historic service this morning (showing live on Channel 4 in the UK from 10am, with highlights airing at 8pm), here's a reminder of Vincent Price's tongue-in-cheek take on William Shakespeare's version Machiavellian monarch, as played by his vengeful tragedian Edward Lionheart, in the 1973 black comedy Theatre of Blood.

LIONHEART: 'Well, Larding, you said my Richard III cast such a spell on the audience... "it put this reviewer in a deep sleep. And I awoke that I was spared attending the aging matinee idol's ranting and posturing." Well, let's see if we can get more rapt attention from you today. "Dive, thoughts, down to my soul, here Clarence comes".' 

LIONHEART: 'So, this critic slept through my Richard, did he? No doubt because you supped too much, you drunken hog. You may know that in Richard III, Clarence... and I do want you to try out for that part, Larding... was drowned in a vat of wine!'

Theatre of Blood | Critics Circle Awards Voting Card No 8 | Lionheart as Richard, Duke of Gloucester

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Critics Circle Awards Voting Card No 8 Lionheart wonders if theatre critic Oliver Larding (Richard Coote) will 'travel well' after drowning the drunken hog him in a barrel of Chambertin '64.

Theatre of Blood is out now on Blu-ray in the UK from Arrow Video  Review my review (HERE)  

Theatre of Blood | On Location in… Chelsea

Back in March, I visited the Putney based locations that featured in Theatre of Blood, including the site of the now demolished Hippodrome that stood in for Lionheart's lair, the old Burbage Theatre, and the lovely cottage in Charlwood Road that was Meredith Merridew's home.

Yesterday, I took a trip into the rarefied setting of Cheyne Walk in SW3. Today its the home of oligarchs and lots of expensive Bentley's and sports cars, but in the film it was where possessive theatre critic Solomon Psaltery (Jack Hawkins) lived with his socialite wife Maisie (Diana Dors). Vincent Price's Lionheart disguises himself as a masseur and, in a scene straight out of Shakespeare's Othello, the jealous Psaltery ends up suffocating his wife to death. Either side of the house, are the former residences of Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Victorian writer George Eliot.

Just around the corner from Cheyne Walk, amongst the gorgeous side streets, is Justice Walk. This tiny little road was where Oliver Larding (Robert Coote) arrived with a police escort for a wine tasting session. The rest of the scene, in which the sozzled critic ended up in a butt of Malmsey wine ala George, the Duke of Clarence, in Shakespeare's Richard III, was filmed at another location, which has been identified as either the old London Dungeon (now closed) or the crypt at St Martin's in the Field by Trafalgar Square. Interestingly, No 7 Justice Walk was once the location of wine merchants, Herbert Allen Smith Ltd, who occupied the premises from 1903 to 1985.

Theatre of Blood is out on Blu-ray in the UK from Arrow Video
* Read my review (HERE)  

Remembering Vincent Price as the King in the Car Park - Richard III

Following the history-making announcement this week of the exhumation of Richard III by the University of Leicester, I thought it timely to recall Vincent Price’s two cinematic roles as the last king of the Plantagenets, who was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. 

In 1962’s Tower of London, which was inspired by Shakespeare’s classic play and the 1939 period romp starring Basil Rathbone as the evil-minded Richard, Price brought an air of macabre malevolence to Roger Corman’s B-movie. Though stagey, with costumes and sets that look right out of panto, the film is still fun to watch – mainly for Price chewing the scenery, especially his hysterical death scene.

In 1973’s Theatre of Blood, Price played much-maligned Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who was out for revenge against the critics who issued poisonous barbs against his hammy renditions of the Bard’s plays. One of which was Richard III, in which Price sends up Lawrence Olivier’s 1955 portrayal of the crook-back king in a scene that recalls Price’s appearance in 1939’s Tower of London, in which his character, the Duke of Clarence, is drowned in a butt of malmsey. Wow! I need a tipple myself after writing that sentence.

• For more information about the archaeological findings of the real king, check out the Leicester University website; and, if you are a UK resident, you can watch the Channel 4 documentary Richard III: King in the Car Park on the 4oD service. Below are a couple of clips of Price as Richard III.
 

TOWER OF LONDON (1962)


THEATRE OF BLOOD (1973)