East German uniforms?

Facism was popular all over Europe in the 1930's.

McKellen is setting RIII in an imaginary Britain in which Facism, represented by McKellen and Buckingham takes power from the more conservative government forces of Hastings.

He's imagining what might have happened if Britain had been serious about facism.

The black uniforms used later in the film are closely styled on 30s-40s Allgemeine SS uniforms of the Nazi period. Richard's uniform has the collar patches denoting a Gruppenfuhrer (SS rank approximating an Allied Lt General)and Buckingham wears the collar patches of an SS Brigadefuhrer (Maj General). All the others, Catesby etc wear uniforms denoting lesser ranks.

The uniforms of 1930s England are very well known and easily available for theatrical purposes. The director obviously went for a mix rather than faithful rendition but to my mind it did not enhance the credibility to have German uniforms bastardised with British ones. Everyone got the message, that this is England with a fascist twist but I thought this approach fell between the targets. It was just plain confusing to have German soldiers at a British railway station, it gave the impression that there had been a Nazi invasion. Also, why not make the RAF and Navy uniforms true to the real patterns. The RAF uniform looked just stupid with recognisable pilot's wings but with a naval style gold rank trim. It did not add to the drama or the story whereas a realistic approach to uniforms would have made the story more real and threatening.

They also used Russian T-55 tanks through out the entire movie and German MP40 sub machine guns, so it really was just a big mix of everything.

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When this play was performed in Shakespeare's day, the actual historical context of the story was only several decades in the past. McKellen's aim in this production was to create a similar effect for the modern audience of presenting this story with an almost 'imaginary' though not impossible historical context from several decades in the past making it historical enough to be objective but modern enough to have a warning from history.

To me the equation is Richard III = Hitler even down to the funny and sinister mustaches. That they speak English is simply an accident of where the play came from but they seem to intend fascism of Germany specifically and less fascism of England before the War. The deliberate German costumes seems to confirm that.

East Germany was an authoritarian socialist country not a fascist one. But being Germans they used the same patterns and style as the NAZIs and the Wiemar Repblic did. I think the makers used East German uniforms because they were easier to get than NAZI ones or they copied East German uniforms because they lack the NAZI eagle which would ground this movie in NAZI Germany otherwise, rather than a fascist Britain.

Formerly KingAngantyr