Gold Run

I remember enjoying the 1995 film version of Richard III with Ian McKellen as the Duke of Gloucester, later the eponymous king.

Perhaps I enjoyed it because three script writers, including McKellen, are credited ahead of Shakespeare. You will recall it is set in Britain in the 1930s, depicting Gloucester as a Fascist usurper. The only location I remember is Battersea Power Station, then a ruin, now a glitzy retail destination.

Now I am watching the 1955 version shot in blinding Technicolour. Laurence Olivier is in the lead supported by  Ralph Richardson, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, etc. It is true to the play as its 161 minute running time attests; although the long play has been heavily cut. It is a mistake to watch a film like this in the kitchen. In a cinema there can be complete concentration which is why I enjoyed Olivier’s 1944 Henry V better. Both films are shot in Technicolour in London studios until both burst out into the open air for battles shot on location: Powerscourt in Co Wicklow and somewhere in Spain respectively.

Sorry, I digress but I am watching Richard Three in preparation for a visit to the cinema on Saturday to see an even longer film. Also, I’d like to mention another film I saw on iPlayer recently. Gold Run is a 2022 Norwegian film that ticks a lot of boxes. It is just under two hours; is a foreign language film (Norwegian, natch) ticking the pretentious box; is a true story and most importantly it is an exciting war film in the best traditions of that genre.

It tells the dramatic story of the hasty and dangerous evacuation of Norway’s gold reserve from the Central Bank in Oslo in April 1940. Germany’s invasion takes Norway by surprise and the Nazis are already in Oslo as the top secret evacuation of fifty tonnes of gold in heavy crates begins. The gold is moved around Norway with the Germans in close pursuit, eventually being taken to Britain by the Royal Navy and then to the United States. The plot is in some respects similar to the BBC drama, The King’s Choice, and the plots collide when some of the gold leaves Norway on the same RN vessel as Kong Haakon VII. Another film about this period is the American mini-series, Atlantic Crossing, that also depicts, inaccurately, the friendship between President Roosevelt and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. It sounds like a Scandi-Crown series. Incidentally there is a more nuanced depiction of the relationship in No Ordinary Time.