I would have said Scar was more Richard III than Claudius - he has Richard's droll sense of humor. "I do love thee so that I will shortly send thy soul to heaven."
To think Josh Brolin first tried acting Thanos “with this Richard Burton Shakespearean” direction and Marvel told him no…one can imagine Brolin falling into fanciful fluffery, or one can perhaps imagine it was twice as articulate and menacing as the final product. I’d like to see it
So much better than any modern performance, and I'm including Branagh's version as well. All the modern versions seem too drawn out, too 'over the top'.
Michael Caine recounted that some guy asked John Wayne, the American actor, to recite this soliloquy for a charity event… after reading the first few lines, John Wayne stopped and then with a puzzled look asked ‘who wrote this crap..’😂😂
Burton could read a menu and it would sound mellifluous. If he had managed to cut back on the bottle and not had such a scandalous private life within a few years he would have been Sir Richard Burton. He was simply magnificent.
Thank you was not aware of this movie.must look out for it. Saw another film last week The Gathering in which he played Winston Churchill. I saw Under Milkwood when I was very young and have LP of it.💖 from Australia🌏
Well I never thought I'd say this but it's so old fashioned. He is quoting, very beautifully and sonorously, but not acting as if those thoughts are occurring as he is speaking and so the speech and its meaning to him, to us and to the play loses its emotional thrust. Sorry I do love Richard Burton. I wonder how it would compare with Richard Burbage?
Perhaps you haven't realised he is portraying here a real actor from the mid-1800s in the role of Hamlet. There would be something seriously amiss if it DIDN'T sound "old-fashioned".
Hamlet is contemplating his own existence and whether it should continue. This is the first time I've ever heard the nuances of doubt and fear and bravado that this most famous soliloquy in the English theatre demands. I've finally heard it the way it's supposed to be said. At last.
Interesting to compare Burton's performance here in 1955, when he was 30 years old, to the one in the 1964 Broadway production of Hamlet (also available on RU-vid) when he was 39. He was still good, but the tone of his voice is far more nuanced, even musical, here. Nine years of hard drinking (up to two bottles of whiskey or vodka a day) and smoking (three to four packs a day) sure took its toll on his voice. Compare this to Olivier, whose voice stayed strong through his 50s, and even in his 60s he could do quite a bit with his voice despite poor health.
