The Beggar's Opera (film)

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 Dorothy Tutin
Music by	Arthur Bliss
Cinematography	Guy Green
Editing by	Reginald Beck
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	1953
Running time	94 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Beggar's Opera is a 1953 Technicolor film version of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera directed by Peter Brook and 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 were 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 comic actor Kenneth Williams.

Cast

• Laurence Olivier as Captain MacHeath
• Hugh Griffith as The Beggar
• George Rose as 1st Turnkey
• Stuart Burge as 1st Prisoner
• Cyril Conway as 2nd Prisoner
• Gerald Lawson as 3rd Prisoner
• Dorothy Tutin as Polly Peachum
• George Devine as Peachum
• Mary Clare as Mrs. Peachum
• Edward Pryor as Filch
• Athene Seyler as Mrs. Trapes
• Stanley Holloway as Mr. Lockit
• Daphne Anderson as Lucy Lockit
• Eric Pohlmann as Inn Keeper
• Yvonne Furneaux as Jenny Diver
• Kenneth Williams as Jack the Pot Boy
• Sandra Dorne as Sukey Tawdrey
• Laurence Naismith as Matt of the Mint

External links

• The Beggar's Opera at the Internet Movie Database
• The Beggar's Opera at AllRovi
• The Beggar's Opera (film) at the TCM Movie Database