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Richard III
(1911)

Will Barker’s Richard III (1911) was produced in England in two reels. The staging is routine and theatrical, with painted backdrops and scenery, but with a higher number of extras in the frame than usual for a production shot entirely in a motion picture studio. The floorboards of the studio are clearly visible in the foreground of each shot. Sir Frank Benson’s Richard is more flexible and mobile than other interpretations of the character.

The Milestone Collection
2000 DVD edition

Silent Shakespeare (1899-1911), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 89 minutes, not rated, including Richard III (1911), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Milestone Film & Video, distributed by Image Entertainment,
ID9224MLSDVD, UPC 0-14381-92242-4.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame and windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.0 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 224 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; snapper DVD case; $29.99.
Release date: 6 June 2000.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 9 / additional content: 0 / overall: 8.

This DVD edition has been prepared from a faintly color-tinted two-reel 35mm print of Richard III (1911) is lightly speckled but sharp, with broad greytones and some light print marring in the form of dust and light scuffing. The image jumps about from frame jitters a little more than other films of its vintage.

We admire the exceptional stereo music score by Laura Rossi, performed by a dozen or so musicians on a variety of instruments.

For now, this is our recommended home video edition of the film for North American collectors.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

BFI Video Publishing
2004 DVD edition

Silent Shakespeare (1899-1911), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 89 minutes, BBFC Classification E, including Richard III (1911), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

BFI Video Publishing, unknown catalog number, UPC/EAN 5.03567E+12, unknown ISBN number.
One single-sided?, single-layered?, Region 2 PAL DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame and windowboxed 4:3 (720 x 576 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; £19.99.
Release date: 25 October 2004.
Country of origin: England

This British Film Institute DVD edition features identical content to the Milestone edition noted above, with music score by Laura Rossi, and adds an introduction and commentary by Judith Buchanan, lecturer in Film Studies at the University of York, sleeve notes by Nicci Gerrard, and a bibliography. Since the Milestone edition was prepared from video masters originally created by the BFI for VHS release, expect this edition to be of similar or better quality.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued
and is . . .

Rare Films and More
202? DVD edition

The Divine Comedy (1911) [L’Inferno], black & white, 53 minutes, not rated, with The Divine Comedy (1911) [L’Inferno], colorized black & white, 70 minutes, not rated, and Richard III (1911), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated.

Rare Films and More, 3703, no UPC number.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; Italian language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $21.99.
Release date: 202?
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has likely been mastered from files lifted from an Internet streaming site or from another company’s home video edition.

The film is likely accompanied by a music score pirated from another company’s home video edition or a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

Note that this company apparently has a history of pirating other home video editions to produce their products. Be aware that purchasing pirated home video editions does not benefit the original edition producers nor the composers whose music is often pirated as well.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .