Product Details

• Actors: James Fisher, Norman McKinnel, Julia Neilson, F.M. Paget, Dora Senior
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Milestone Video
• VHS Release Date: January 8, 2002
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305741735
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,608 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Silent Shakespeare is a compendium of some of the earliest productions of the Bard ever to be committed to film. With entries from Britain, America, and Italy dating back as early as 1899, it documents how the movie industry strove to lift itself up from its "lowbrow" status by taking on Shakespeare's classics. The enthusiasm for the new medium shows in the often-spirited performances of the actors, some of the finest stage performers of their day; the 1909 American production of A Midsummer Night's Dream even includes a whimsical camera trick or two, à la the Lumière brothers. The Italian productions of King Lear (1910) and The Merchant of Venice are painstakingly hand-tinted and stenciled, a process that had to have been mind-bogglingly tedious. Unfortunately, the title cards of the films only provide the barest synopsis of the stories; the beauty of Shakespeare to this day is in his language, and film adaptations of his work inherently lose much when the rhythms and cadences of his verse are not present. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating and seldom-seen look at the fledgling film industry and some of its earliest attempts at onscreen drama, one that should prove interesting for silent film fans and drama buffs alike. In a time when as much as 80 percent of films made before 1920 have either been lost, been destroyed, or disintegrated, kudos is in order to Milestone Film and Video for this restoration effort. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A silence that speaks, December 29, 2000

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Shakespeare [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This collection of silent films adapted from Shakespeare's plays is really funny and interesting. It is even amusing to see how the genius of words and shouts and all other vocal expressions is translated in pure silence thanks to gestures, postures, costumes, settings, and a few pages summarizing the successive scenes. We probably miss the words, but we do have the feelings and the atmospheres of the plays. It is important to watch these short films to really know how fascinating and universally known Shakespeare is. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting to behold, February 21, 2010

By 

bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Silent Shakespeare [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a collection of early Shakespeare films, and at first, it looks like the films may be of interest to the art of filmmaking but not so much Shakespeare.

When it gets to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1909), it slows down and you can almost hear the dialog that you know by heart. However, for us mortals there are plates with words that we can read. The scene where Puck searches for the plant is neatly done. Every generation of actors must play in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and this is no different.
Walter Ackerman ... Demetrius
Charles Chapman ... Quince
Maurice Costello ... Lysander
Julia Swayne Gordon ... Helena
Gladys Hulette ... Puck (interesting that they picked a female)
Elita Proctor Otis ... Hippolyta
William V. Ranous ... Bottom
William Shea ... Mechanical
Rose Tapley ... Hermia
Florence Turner ... Titania - Viola in Twelfth Night
Clara Kimball Young ... Penelope

*** The violin and piano commitment helps make the film.

King Lear 1910 or (Re Lear) someone colored it be for Ted Turner was born.
King Lear decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters.
Love the old left over Viking helmets.
Ermete Novelli ... King Lear
Francesca Bertini ... Cordelia
Olga Giannini Novelli ... King Lear's Daughter
Giannina Chiantoni ... King Lear's Daughter

Twelfth Night 1910
Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked and separated
Julia Swayne Gordon ... Olivia
Charles Kent ... Malvolio
Florence Turner ... Viola - Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream
Edith Storey ... Sebastian
Tefft Johnson ... Orsino
Marin Sais ... Maria
William Humphrey ... Sir Toby Belch
James Young ... Sir Andrew Aguecheek

The Merchant of Venice (IL mercante di Venezia) 1910
A merchant (Bassanio) takes out a loan of three thousand ducats.
Again, this film is hand colored.

Ermete Novelli ... Shylock (now I wonder were the term Shylock came from)
Francesca Bertini ... Jessica
Olga Giannini Novelli ... Portia - King Lear's Daughter in King Lear 1910

Just remember:
The penalty for the shedding of one drop of Christian blood is confiscation of lands and goods.

Richard III 1911
Richard of Gloucester is determined to gain the throne.

James Berry ... King Henry VI
Alfred Brydone ... King Edward IV
Kathleen Yorke ... Edward, Prince of Wales / King Edward V
Hetty Kenyon...Richard, Duke of York
Murray Carrington ... George, Duke of Clarence
Frank R. Benson ... Richard, Duke of Gloucester / Richard III
Eric Maxon ... Henry, Earl of Richmond / King Henry VII
Moffat Johnston ... Duke of Buckingham
James Maclean ... Duke of Norfolk
Victor McClure ... Earl of Surrey, his son
R.I. Connick ... Earl Rivers
George Manship ... Earl of Oxford
Harry Caine ... Lord Hastings
Wilfrid Caithness ... Lord Stanley
L. Rupert ... Sir Richard Ratcliff
H. James ... Sir James Tyrrel
Alfred Wild ... Sir William Catesby
Cecil Dighton ... Sir James Blount
John Howell ... Sir Robert Brackenbury
J. Victor ... Lord Mayor of London
H.O. Nicholson ... First murderer
A. Wild ... Second murderer
Violet Farebrother ... Elizabeth, Queen of King Edward IV
Elinor Aickin ... Duchess of York, mother to King Edward IV, Clarence and Gloucester
Mrs (Constance) Benson ... Lady Anne, widow of Edward Prince of Wales

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All I can say are you getting a lot for your money. Just remember watching these films are no substitute for the real thing.

Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) [VHS]