The Beggar's Opera (film)

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The Beggar's Opera
Directed by	Peter Brook
Written by	Christopher Fry Denis Cannan
Based on	The Beggar's Opera by John Gay
Produced by	Laurence Olivier Herbert Wilcox
Starring	Laurence Olivier Hugh Griffith Dorothy Tutin Stanley Holloway Daphne Anderson Athene Seyler
Cinematography	Guy Green
Edited by	Reginald Beck
Music by	Arthur Bliss Additional lyrics: Christopher Fry
Distributed by	British Lion Films (worldwide) Warner Bros. (US)
Release dates	9 June 1953 (1953-06-09) (London) 5 October 1953 (1953-10-05)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£500,000[1] or £379,697[2]

The Beggar's Opera is a 1953 British historical musical film, a Technicolor adaptation of John Gay's 1728 ballad opera of the same name. The film, directed by Peter Brook in his feature film debut, stars Laurence Olivier (in his sole musical), Hugh Griffith, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway, Daphne Anderson and Athene Seyler. Olivier and Holloway provide their own singing, but Tutin and others were dubbed.

With additional dialogue and lyrics by Christopher Fry, the film expands on some elements in the opera, such as giving Mrs Trapes a larger role and adding dramatic action sequences to Macheath's escape. The framing device is also changed: the Beggar 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.