''Richard III'' (also known as ''The Life and Death of King Richard III'') is a 1912 silent film adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, co-directed by French filmmaker

André Calmettes André Calmettes (1861-1942) was a French actor and film director. Biography After being a theatre actor for twenty years, he joined the society ', founded in 1908 by the novelist and editor, at the urging of the Sociétaires of the Comédie-Fr ...

and American playwright James Keane, and starring

Frederick Warde Frederick Barkham Warde (23 February 1851 – 7 February 1935) was an English Shakespearean actor who relocated to the United States in the late 19th century. Career He was born in 1851 in Wardington, Oxfordshire, the son of Thomas Ward and ...

as the title character. The 55-minute film, an

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companie ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, was produced by Film d'Art and released through the independent

states rights In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...

film distribution Film distribution (also known as Film exhibition or Film distribution and exhibition) is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marke ...

system. ''Richard III'' was adapted from Shakespeare's original and

Colley Cibber Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling ...

's 1699 adaptation of the same name. The film was written by Keane, who also appears as Richmond. Filming took place around

Westchester, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

and City Island Long Island Sound.p.19 Rothwell, Kenneth S. ''A History of Shakespeare on Screen: A Century of Film and Television'' Cambridge University Press, 28 Oct. 2004

Release and rediscovery

When the film was released in the U.S., actor

would often appear at screenings, giving a short lecture, and then reading extracts from the play during the changing of the

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the ends ...

s, which were then called "acts". The film itself begins with Warde, in modern dress, emerging from behind a theatrical curtain and bowing, and concludes with him bowing again, and returning behind the curtain. A traveling actor, Warde discovered it was more economical to single-handedly tour with the film rather than perform the play with an entire theatrical company. The film also features two scenes from ''

3 Henry VI ''Henry VI, Part 3'' (often written as ''3 Henry VI'') is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591 and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas '' 1 Henry VI'' deals with the loss of Eng ...

'' (the murder of Prince Edward and Richard's murder of Henry VI). It is the oldest surviving American

feature-length film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

, and is also thought to be the first feature-length Shakespearean adaptation ever made. As early as 1922, the film was thought lost. It was not until 1996 that a print was discovered, when William Buffum, former

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

at the Bluebird Theatre in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, donated his copy to the American Film Institute. The AFI restored the print, transferring it from its

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

stock and retouching the

hand tinting Hand-colouring (or hand-coloring) refers to any method of manually adding colour to a Monochrome photography, monochrome photograph, generally either to heighten the realism of the image or for artistic purposes. Hand-colouring is also known as ...

effect used in the original 1912 release. On June 26, 2001,

Kino International The Kino International is a film theater in Berlin, built from 1961 to 1963. It is located on Karl-Marx-Allee in former East Berlin. It hosted premieres of the DEFA film studios until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today it is a protec ...

released the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, with a newly composed score by Ennio Morricone, and a 17-minute

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

"Rediscovering ''Richard'': Looking Back on a Forgotten Classic".

Cast

as Richard, Duke of Gloucester *Robert Gemp as King Edward IV *Albert Gardner as Prince Edward of Lancaster *James Keane as

Earl of Richmond The now-extinct title of Earl of Richmond was created many times in the Peerage of England. The earldom of Richmond was initially held by various Breton nobles; sometimes the holder was the Breton duke himself, including one member of the ca ...

*George Moss as Tressel *Howard Stuart as Edward *Virginia Rankin as York *Violet Stuart as Lady Anne Plantagenet *Carey Lee as Queen Elizabeth *Carlotta De Felice as Princess Elizabeth

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richard Iii (1912 Film) 1912 drama films 1912 films American black-and-white films 1910s English-language films Films based on Richard III (play) French silent feature films American silent feature films Silent American drama films 1910s rediscovered films City Island, Bronx Rediscovered American films 1910s American films

Release and rediscovery

Cast

See also

References

Further reading

External links