Film

Richard III

Ian McKellen drags Shakespeare's regicidal schemer into a fascist 1930s England of art deco palaces, tanks and cocktail parties, smirking straight down the lens as he lies, seduces and murders his way to the crown. Lush, theatrical, darkly funny and genuinely chilling - history-play Shakespeare staged like a stylish political thriller, for anyone who wants their villains charismatic and their monarchy rotten.

TMDb rating6.8

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House of Cards1990

Ian Richardson's Francis Urquhart talks straight to camera as he lies, blackmails and murders his way to power - the exact trick McKellen borrows, done first, done just as coldly and just as gleefully.

But Four episodes of pure political psychopathy with barely a decent character in sight; bleak, addictive company for an evening.

House of Cards poster

Macbeth2015

Fassbender's Macbeth carries the same doomed, blood-soaked ambition as Richard, filmed with painterly, theatrical intensity and a nihilistic sense that ruin is coming from the first scene.

But The dialogue is thick and often mumbled, more interested in mood and mud than clarity - it can feel like work.

Macbeth poster

Elizabeth1998

Cate Blanchett's Tudor court is every bit as treacherous and murderous as Richard's, wrapping palace intrigue in the same appetite for costume-drama glamour and menace.

But It plays the scheming straighter and more reverently, without McKellen's knowing wink out at the audience.

Elizabeth poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

I, Claudius1976

Both use a charming, damaged narrator who lets us in on every murder as it happens, turning the audience into willing accomplices to a monarchy devouring itself.

Derek Jacobi's stammering emperor narrates decades of poisoning, incest and palace murder with the same wicked complicity Richard extends to us - Shakespearean villainy on wobbly sets, decades before McKellen's tanks.

But Pure 1970s BBC production values - painted backdrops, static cameras - and thirteen episodes is a serious commitment.

I, Claudius poster
More like this (8)

The Lion in Winter1968

A royal family tears itself apart over succession, sharpened into some of the most vicious, funniest dialogue ever written for a crown - cruelty as a competitive sport.

But It's stagier and talkier still, essentially two hours of brilliant people insulting each other inside one castle.

The Lion in Winter poster

Cabaret1972

Watch fascism creep into 1930s Berlin nightlife with the same seductive, decadent style that dresses Richard's England in art deco menace and jackboots.

But It's a musical first, so the horror arrives sideways, in songs and glances, rather than through swordplay and speeches.

Cabaret poster

The Great Dictator1940

Chaplin turns a tyrant into a clown decades before McKellen turned one into a matinee villain - proof the fascist strongman has always invited mockery from great performers.

But The slapstick and the political message sit awkwardly together for modern tastes, and the seams of its age show.

The Great Dictator poster

A Man for All Seasons1966

Another English court eaten alive by ambition and self-interest, but told through the one man who refuses to play along - a mirror image of Richard's world.

But It's slower, more devout and far less fun - a conscience story, not a villain's showcase.

A Man for All Seasons poster

Downfall2004

The flip side of Richard's swagger: a dictator's final days told with claustrophobic, unglamorous dread as the empire he built collapses around him room by room.

But German-language, historically exact and deliberately joyless - there's no charisma to enjoy here, only ruin.

Downfall poster

The Favourite2018

Court intrigue as vicious comedy, with women doing the scheming this time and the camera just as delighted by their cruelty as McKellen's is by his.

But Its anarchic, anachronistic style is a world away from McKellen's severe theatrical control - looser, ruder, weirder.

The Favourite poster

The Act of Killing2012

Richard's direct-to-camera pride in his crimes stops being a clever device and becomes actual horror once you watch real killers do the same thing, unscripted, without Shakespeare's poetry to soften it.

Indonesian death squad leaders re-enact their killings for the camera, preening and performing their own atrocities with a theatrical relish that is genuinely stomach-turning to watch.

But This is a real documentary about a real genocide - there's no aesthetic pleasure to take from the violence, only dread.

The Act of Killing poster

The Lion King1994

Strip Richard III of its politics and period detail and you're left with this fable - a usurping uncle, a stolen crown, a nation waiting to be set right - told here completely without irony.

A jealous brother murders the king, seizes the throne and drapes the kingdom in shadow until a rightful heir returns - the exact shape of Richard's story, sung by lions for eight-year-olds.

But It resolves everything neatly with a redemption arc and a happy ending that Shakespeare, and McKellen, would never allow.

The Lion King poster

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