The Beggar's Opera (film)
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| The Beggar's Opera | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Peter Brook |
| Produced by | Laurence Olivier Herbert Wilcox |
| Written by | Christopher Fry Denis Cannan John Gay |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier |
| Music by | Arthur Bliss |
| Cinematography | Guy Green |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | 1953 |
| Running time | 94 min. |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Peter Brook's film version of The Beggar's Opera was made in 1953 starring Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway and others. Olivier and Holloway do their own singing in this film, but Dorothy Tutin and several others are dubbed. This was Laurence Olivier's only film musical.
With additional dialogue and lyrics by Christopher Fry, the film expands on some elements in the opera, notably giving Mrs Trapes (Athene Seyler) a larger role and adding dramatic action sequences to Macheath's escape.
The framing device is also changed: the Beggar (Hugh Griffith) is himself a prisoner in Newgate with the real Macheath, who escapes at the end under cover of the confusion created when the Beggar decides that his fictional Macheath should be reprieved.
The film also includes one of the first film performances of the Carry On star Kenneth Williams
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