British Universities Film & Video Council

moving image and sound, knowledge and access

Macbeth

Synopsis
Feature film version of Macbeth directed by John Emerson and produced by D.W. Griffith with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Macbeth and Constance Collier as Lady Macbeth.
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release
1916
Recording date
4 Jun 1916
Duration
1000 mins; c9000 feet
Availability
Believed to be a lost film.

Credits

Director
John Emerson
Producer
D.W. Griffith
Cinematographer
George W. Hill; Victor Fleming
Screenplay
John Emerson
Cast
Herbert Beerbohm TreeMacbeth
Constance CollierLady Macbeth
William LucasMacduff
L. de NowskowskiMalcolm
Ralph LewisBanquo
Bessie BuskirkDonalbain
Carl, Jr FormesBishop
Chandler HouseFleance
Jack BrammelSeyton
Jack ConwayLennox
Jack LeonardWitch
L. TyldenWitch
Mary AldenLady Macduff
Raymond WellsThane of Cawdor
Scott McKeeWitch
Seymour HastingsRoss
Spottiswoode AitkenKing Duncan

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Historical period
Medieval
Plays
Macbeth
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
Erich von Stroheim, uncredited, was assistant director on the film.
General
The production reputedly was to include 250 shots with 1000 extras while the mounting of the witches scene cost the studio $10,000. The film was not a popular or financial success; expected to run at His Majesty’s in London where it opened on June 22, it ran only one. Filmed in Los Angeles much was made of the research into Scottish and English archives to achieve historical accuracy.
Reviews
Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968), pp. 229-35, 362-3.

Ball, Robert Hamilton ‘The Shakespeare Film as Record: Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’ in Shakespeare Quarterly, July 1952, pp 227-36.

'Can Shakespeare Be Filmed?' The Bioscope, 29 June 1916, p. 1390.

Production Company

Name

Triangle-Reliance

Record Stats

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