MovieChat Forums > Richard III (1956) Discussion > VHS rhyming substitution

VHS rhyming substitution

posted 18 years ago by KnoxWarner
4 replies | jump to latest

In the film, Richard's opening soliloquy, when he muses on his mother's role in his physical anomalies, Richard says "For I should not deal in her soft laws...". But the actual line in the play is "Sure I would not yield in her soft maws..." which is totally different in meaning. Why did they make the substitution? What was wrong with the original text, and why change it to something that rhymes almost perfectly? Anybody know? It's driving me crazy. This is on VHS, so it might be corrected somehow on DVD, but I'm still curious about the switch.

[–] funkatizer-101 18 years ago

Hmm, that's weird. I hadn't remarked upon it particularly...Though admittedly I wasn't incredibly well-versed in Richard III the first time I saw the film. It was only after seeing it that I started taking great interest.
I'll look for it next time I see it!

In Soviet Russia, joke over-uses YOU.

[–] critic-2 18 years ago

Olivier may have done it to help the audience understand it better.

But that's nothing. I read somewhere that Olivier had to change a line in his film of "Henry V" to keep the audience from laughing at what they might have mistakenly perceived as a dirty joke. When he is sent the tennis balls as an insult by the French king, Henry's original answer begins "When we have matched our racquets to his balls...", etc.

Olivier had that changed to "When we have matched our racquets to these balls", for obvious reasons.

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] critic-2 18 years ago

Apparently, whoever wrote that about "Henry V" was mistaken. I just checked the 1623 Folio online, and Shakespeare's original line really is "When we have matched our racquets to these balls"..etc.

Too bad; it makes a great story.