The first film of "Hamlet" representing almost all the play to be made in England.
William Barker claimed many years afterwards, that, apart from Charles Raymond, the actors were chosen by selecting those from Barker Motion Photography's contacts book who would not want more than ten shillings a day payment. Barker said he stood before the assembled cast on the morning of filming and then allocated the roles, choosing, amongst others, Dorothy Fane as Ophelia because she could swim and "a tall man" to play the Ghost.
William Barker stated that his version of "Hamlet" had 22 scenes; by "scenes" he almost certainly meant what are now known as film "shots". It is not possible to get a good idea of how many film scenes in the modern sense of the word were in this "Hamlet", due to the few descriptions of it known at present but from those given it seems that every significant incident in the play was somehow represented in the film's c.20+ minutes running time (except for the appearance of Forntinbras, which had been cut from stage performances of the play for many years).
When the film was released for cinema exhibition in The Isles, Australia and New Zealand in 1911, in each country its release coincided with that of the Nordisk Hamlet (1911), some prints being distributed on the same circuits and some on competing circuits. It is subsequently difficult to distinguish which film is meant in the press advertisments, previews and reviews of both films; in some examples there is unintentional - perhaps intentional - confusion between the two films.
Press reviews and advertisments of screenings of "Hamlet" highlighted its outdoor scenes. The film was made so quickly, in one day's shoot of seven hours (save for the death of Ophelia filmed the next day), these scenes must have been staged in the grounds of Westmorland Lodge (later known as West Lodge), the large house that William Barker had as a home and a site for Barker Motion Photography's studios.