It was also known by the abbreviation B & C. The British and Colonial Kinematograph Company was formed in 1908 by Albert Henry ("Bert") Bloomfield (c.1882–1933)[1] and John Benjamin ("Mac") McDowell (1878–1954).
[3][4] By 1912 it had begun making longer films, such as Robin Hood Outlawed, and using location footage, some shot by Fred Burlingham.
[8] It was nearly an hour and a half long – much longer than most others of the period – and was filmed using hundreds of extras, in five days, at a cost of £1,800, most of which McDowell raised by remortgaging the company.
The first version is of historical interest for its use of a primitive sound process called Voxograph, which required offstage actors to dub the voices at the same time that the performers were filmed.
The second version in 1923 is the earliest surviving British film, visualising the play in about 22 minutes, and retaining many of Shakespeare's lines as intertitles.