Richard III

Rating:
Summary: An Early American Treasure Dazzles
Review: I have been waiting for this Kino International release ever since I first saw it announced on their website. It has been well worth the wait. I have just finished watching RICHARD III for the THIRD time and find the film endlessly fascinating. Part of the fascination lies in the age of the film itself. You rarely get to see a film from 1912 much less one in excellent condition. I read about the amazing steps taken to preserve the film and the restoration job by AFI is top notch. After the initial viewing, I felt as if I had gone back in time to a 19th century theatre which in effect I had as the actor playing Richard (Frederick Warde) was a legendary stage actor who came out of retirement to reprise his favorite role on film and have it captured for posterity. Much of RICHARD III is appropriately theatrical in nature with very theatrical sets but it is the exteriors that turn it into a real motion picture. Although the camerawork is static, the editing is imaginative and keeps it from being just a filmed play. This video edition is truly dazzling. The color tints (mostly yellow and red) are effective and the print is truly pristine. The period intertitles are intriguing with Gloucester spelled phonetically (Gloster) for some reason. The commissioned score from Ennio Morricone is powerful, relentless, and highly effective. I strongly recommend this video to anyone interested not only in early movies but also in theatre history. This is a rare opportunity to see a genuine 19th century performance and the oldest surviving American feature film.

Rating:
Summary: The first feature is also a fine feature
Review: Richard III would be an important film even if it were barely visible and of poor quality as a film. The reason for this is that it was made in 1912 and is the earliest surviving American feature film. However, Richard III turns out to be a remarkably entertaining film with good production values, fine acting and a well-told story. It is thus not merely of historical value, but also of value simply because it is a good film.

The film starts and finishes with Frederick Warde, the actor who plays Richard, taking a bow before the audience. He appears in modern dress looking congenial and thus distancing himself from the character he plays. This device also emphasises that we are watching a play and thus anticipates the framing device used in Henry V (1945). The story of Richard III is conveyed with brief titles describing the action of the scene. There are no dialogue titles as such. Thus some of Shakespeare's most famous lines are not even hinted at. In this film there is no sign of Richard saying 'Now is the winter of our discontent', and perhaps more surprisingly, because it could easily have been filmed, his despairing cry of 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' Nevertheless the film on the whole follows Shakespeare's play quite closely. Some of the detail may be lost but this is still clearly Shakespeare.

The acting in the film is different from the style of later silents, not least because the actors do not appear in close up. It is thus not as subtle as later acting which could make use of the eyes and close ups of facial expressions. Nevertheless Warde's performance especially is good, conveying the menace of Richard without descending into caricature. The acting is helped enormously by the amount of effort and money spent on lavish sets and costumes. The film even has a full size galleon.

The quality of the surviving print is first rate. Richard III looks better than many silent films from the twenties. The print is tinted using mainly pinks and blues and although at times the image is somewhat faded for the most part it is wonderfully sharp and clear. The film is enhanced by a moody score composed by Ennio Morricone. The DVD includes a short documentary Rediscovering Richard which is mainly of interest because it introduces the collector William Buffum who preserved the print of Richard III. Everyone who is interested in film should thank this man, for without him a fine film from 1912 would certainly have been lost for ever.