Beggar’s Opera, The (Blu-ray Review)
Director
Peter BrookRelease Date(s)
1953 (September 30, 2025)Studio(s)
British Lion Films/Warner Bros. (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: A
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: C
Review
The Beggar’s Opera, based on John Gay’s 1728 satirical comic opera, revels in the adventures of a singing, swashbuckling, womanizing highwayman who escapes from an English prison the night before he’s to be hanged. The original play lampooned Italian opera and the English public’s fascination with it while skewering politics, poverty and injustice, with a particular target on corruption in all classes of society. In 1953, the opera was adapted into a colorful motion picture extravaganza.
A beggar (Hugh Griffith) tossed into in London’s Newgate prison carries with him the manuscript of an unfinished opera about the highwayman, Captain Macheath. The beggar is unaware that Macheath (Laurence Olivier) is in the same dungeon sentenced to be hanged the next day. Not believing that the incarcerated, sullen man is indeed Macheath, the beggar asks him to prove himself by singing. Macheath obliges, the beggar is convinced, and the scene shifts to an extended flashback propelled by the beggar’s opera that comprises most of the film.
We see Macheath on horseback heading to London. He stops to rob a coach and give his girlfriend Polly Peachum (Dorothy Tutin) the necklace he stole from one of the passengers. Her parents learn that the thief secretly married Polly and react first with fury, then with greed. They conspire to turn him in to the authorities and claim the reward. But Macheath is too clever for them. He escapes a trap that’s set for him and winds up at a tavern where prostitute Jenny Diver (Yvonne Furneaux) has been bribed by Peachum and jailer Lockit (Stanley Holloway) to ensnare Macheath. Lockit’s daughter Lucy (Daphne Anderson) had been wooed and won by Macheath, who then broke his promise to marry her.
Macheath is captured by a group of bar girls headed by Sukey Tawdry (Sandra Dorne) and Dolly Trull (Mercy Haystead) who have also been bribed by Peachum. Once again, Macheath escapes. More swashbuckling adventures ensue until Macheath lands in Newgate prison and we return to the opening setting. The beggar refuses to have his unfinished opera end with the execution of his hero and writes a happier finale.
The Beggar’s Opera marked the film debut of stage director Peter Brook. A lavish Technicolor production, it features a large cast, period costumes, impressive set design and—most surprising—Laurence Olivier singing! Only he and Stanley Holloway do their own singing. The other cast members are dubbed by professionals.
Olivier nicely embodies the swashbuckling bandit with an eye for the ladies. It’s fun to watch him giving forth with song as he races on horseback through the countryside. Olivier’s career was characterized by serious drama, so this role was a definite departure from his comfort zone. Channeling his inner Errol Flynn, Olivier leans into satire as his character vaults, dashes, swings above his pursuers’ heads, and leaps onto his horse to evade capture. His devil-may-care attitude sets him apart from the rest of the cast. His pleasant baritone hardly measures up to the operatic voices that dub the rest of the cast, but the difference is consistent with the unique hedonism of Macheath. A romantic duet between Olivier and Tutin channels 1930’s operettas starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.
Director Brook’s newness to filmmaking is reflected in an often stagey look to the action, though he does mount an impressive climactic scene with hundreds of extras well before CGI was available. The film is lively, funny, and entertaining. Screenwriters Denis Canaan and Christopher Fry adapted a story that had been reinterpreted and restaged dozens of times for the stage. Their version offers amusing characters, witty dialogue, and pretty women. Songs are delivered in grand style and aptly fit the characters. According to liner notes on the Blu-ray, the filmmakers used the paintings of Restoration artist William Hogarth as inspiration for the film’s colorful locales and “lively gallery of rogues, scoundrels and wenches.”
Bertolt Brecht adapted The Beggar’s Opera into The Threepenny Opera in 1928, remaining true to the original plot and characters but with a new libretto, and mostly new music by Kurt Weill. The best-known song from that play is Mack the Knife.
The Beggar’s Opera was shot by director of photography Guy Green on 35mm film with spherical lenses, finished photochemically, and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The Blu-ray presents a lush-looking filme with bold use of hues. Colors are deeply saturated and include Macheath’s bright red coat and the buttery yellow and shamrock green dresses of the key women characters. Complexions are natural. The cinematography has warmth, especially in a scene set by a roaring fireplace. Some scenes have the look of a fine painting. In the Newgate sequence, Macheath and the other prisoners are seen through cell bars. The jail has a dungeon look with its heavy door and stone walls a dank home for despairing prisoners.
The soundtrack is English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are available. Dialogue is clear and distinct but it’s often difficult to make out the lyrics of the songs, particularly those performed at a quick tempo. The ballads, many based on folk music, are easier to follow. Sound effects include a horse galloping, a coach clattering along a dirt road, pistol shots, a crowd cheering, papers being scattered, and ambient tavern noise.
Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from the Warner Archive Collection include the following:
- Hare Trimmed (6:56)
- Much Ado About Nutting (6:53)
Hare Trimmed – In this 1953 Technicolor Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freling, Yosemite Sam hears that Granny has inherited fifty million dollars. Good guy Bugs Bunny tries to save Granny from Sam’s greedy clutches. Voice talents are provided by Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet.
Much Ado About Nutting – Chuck Jones directed this 1953 Technicolor Looney Tunes cartoon about an unnamed squirrel in a downtown park who lugs a giant coconut back home but has a hard time trying to crack it open. He makes many attempts but all fail. His frustrating efforts finally lead him to try dynamite and dropping the coconut from the Empire State Building. Mel Blanc provides voice talent.
The Beggar’s Opera is a rollicking adventure/comedy/musical with spirited performances. Its focus on lower-class characters, treating their escapades and tawdry goings-on in grandiose fashion, contributes to its comic skewering of opera. The Beggar’s Opera is one of only two films in which Laurence Olivier sings (the other is 1960’s The Entertainer). Though the songs are in English, in order to fully understand the lyrics it might be helpful to watch the film with subtitles.
- Dennis Seuling