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Phonograph recording of excerpts from Othello spoken by American actor Edwin Thomas Booth (1833-1893).
Shakespeare 
Shakespeare productions 
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aka: Scene - ‘King John’ - Now Playing at Her Majesty’s Theatre, A
Beerbohm Tree, The Great British Actor
- Director
- William Kennedy-Laurie Dickson
Four scenes from the Her Majesty’s Theatre production of King John, one of which survives. The descriptions quoted are from the copyright records in The National Archives:
THE BATTLEFIELD NEAR ANGIERS -...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions 
Online
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- Director
- Clément-Maurice
A film of the final scene in Hamlet with Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet. The film depicts Hamlet’s body being caught by Horatio. The film also included a soundtrack (primarily of sound effects) synchronised...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Clément-Maurice
Emilio Cossira singing a tenor aria from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Ball hazards a guess that the aria was ‘Ah! Lève-toi soleil’. The film experimented with a synchronised sound system outlined by...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions 
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Fiction film. Description in the Selig catalogue reads ‘Oh, how are the mighty fallen. Here is a great Shakespearean actor on his uppers, actually broke; but he retains his valet and the two of them see...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Series
- Theatrical Motion Pictures from the Paper Print Collection
This scene comprises part of the video compilation ‘Theatrical Motions Pictures from the Paper Print Collection’ of the Library Congress. Shot by cameraman G W Bitzer in New York City on 15 July 1905,...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Edwin S. Porter
Fiction short. A depiction of the seven ages of Man in eight tableaux. The titles are: Infancy, Playmates, Schoolmates, Lovers, The Soldier, The Judge, Second Childhood and What Age? (showing an old woman...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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A filmed record (with Beerbohm Tree’s consent) of the opening storm scene from his stage production of The Tempest. Urban’s catalogue describes the scenes thus: ‘This remarkable picture, taken under...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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aka: Venetian Looking Glass
- Director
- Georges Méliès
Fiction film, possibly based on The Merchant of Venice.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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aka: Serie 2: Stimmportraits
- Series
- Tondokumente aus Dem Phonogrammarchiv der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Gesamtausgabe der Historischen Bestände 1899-1950.
- Producer
- Fritz Hauser
In this 2-minute phonogramme sample, recorded by Fritz Hauser in 1906, the 80-year old German actor and long-standing star of the Vienna Burgtheater, Bernhard Baumeister, declaims Falstaff’s speech from...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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A record of the Warwick Pageant held in the grounds of Warwick Castle 2-9 July 1906 and showing incidents in Warwick’s history from AD40-1572. Includes scenes from a performance of Christopher Marlowe’s...
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aka: Hamlet and the Jester’s Skull
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
- Director
- Georges Méliès
Fiction film. An abridged version of Hamlet which begins with the graveyard scene and ends with the duel scene. Hamlet also sees Ophelia’s ghost. Ball (op cit) writes: ‘It is easy to brand this...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Shakespeare Writing Julius Caesar
- Director
- Georges Méliès
Fiction short which shows Shakespeare suffering from writer’s block while planning the assassination scene in Julius Caesar. He falls asleep in his study and dreams of the scene he is to write. Shakespeare...
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A version of Othello. Ball (op cit, p. 306) notes that the naming of the director as Mario Caserini and the actor Ubaldo Del Colle as Othello is speculative. The Walturdaw Animated Pictures catalogue (the...
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Excerpts from II i of A Winter’s Tale; From Act II scene 1 beginning "Take the boy..." and ending ""...give’t me in mine ear". Ellen Terry plays all parts.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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E.H. (Edward Hugh) Sothern reciting Hamlet’s soliloquy ‘to be, or not to be’ and Hamlet’s speech to the players (III ii).
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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Sound recording. A dramatic reading by E.H Sothern of Mark Antony’s funeral oration, Act III ii.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
- Producer
- J. Stuart Blackton
Abbreviated version of the play. At the Capitol Julius Caesar leaves with Mark Antony while Caesar is seen plotting with another man. In the arena Antony offers Caesar the crown three times. Cassius...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Charles Kent
Antony and Cleopatra directed by Charles Kent with Betty Kent (the director’s wife) as Cleopatra. The film was shot entirely in the studio, Vitagraph’s promotion describing the film as a ‘stupendous...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Kenean Buel
Film adaptation of As You Like It.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
Fiction film of Macbeth containing at least 17 sequences with the focus on the first half of the play. Shot largely in the studio, the film was not well received by the trade papers and its censorship by...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Jealousy
- Director
- William V. Ranous
Fiction film of Othello with William V. Ranous directing himself in the title role.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
Fiction film. Richard III with William V. Ranous directing himself in the title role.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
Fiction film directed by William V. Ranous with Paul Panzer as Romeo and Florence Lawrence as Juliet.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- D.W. Griffith
Fiction film version of The Taming of the Shrew directed by D.W. Griffith with Florence Lawrence as Kate and Arthur Johnson as Petruchio. The film omits the Christopher Sly framing and much reduces the...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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Fiction short. Robert Hamilton Ball in Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History (p. 314) notes that although a copyright record exists in the Library of Congress no further information can be...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- Percy Stow
Abbreviated version of the play directed by Percy Stow. The cast is not known.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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Fiction short. A version of Romeo and Juliet which is a record of the stage production at the Lyceum; Godfrey Tearle is Romeo and his wife, Mary Malone, is Juliet.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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A version of The Merchant of Venice. Ball surmises that Shylock may have been played by William V. Ranous who probably directed. The Moving Picture World (January 9 1909) noted ‘An ambitious film. The...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Hamlet
Fiction short. A version of Hamlet.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Romeo and Juliet
Fiction short. Version of Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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Fiction film. The Shakespearean connection is unknown beyond the title.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- Viggo Larsen
Fiction film. A comic version of the play with Carl Alstrup as Othello. Bioscope, commenting on the film on its re-release in 1911, writes that Alstrup ‘becomes so imbued with his part that he deals...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
- Producer
- J. Stuart Blackton
Abbreviated version of the play but yet still straining to incorporate the Edgar subplot, the rejection of Cordelia, Lear’s rejection of Goneril and Regan, the blinding of Gloucester (off stage), the...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- J. Stuart Blackton; Charles Kent
Abbreviated version of the play closely following the original with the exception of a new character, Penelope. It is she who quarrels with Titania and tells Puck to bewitch Titania.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- William V. Ranous
Fiction film with William V. Ranous directing and taking the title role.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- André Calmettes
Fiction film version of Macbeth directed by André Calmettes with Paul Mounet and Jeanne Delvair as the Macbeths. The film owed much to theatrical convention. Ball (op cit) comments ‘Actors are forever...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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Fiction short. No further information known.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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aka: Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
Fiction short. A version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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aka: Romeo Turns Bandit
Romeo Turns Brigand
- Director
- Romeo Bosetti
Fiction short. A contemporary Romeo climbs a wall to kiss Juliet and is discovered by her father. When her father refuses to give his consent to their marriage Romeo hires bandits to capture her father and...
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aka: Theatrical Chimney Sweep, The
- Director
- Jack Smith
Fiction film. A chimney sweep, wanting to take revenge on an actor, secretly puts soot into his make-up. No further details found (7/2008).
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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aka: Death of Othello
- Director
- Franz Porten
- Producer
- Oskar Messter
A film depicting a scene from Verdi’s Otello, using the experimental synchronisation process known as the Biophon developed in 1903 by Oskar Messter. Ball (op cit, p. 33) describes how a camera turned...
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aka: Brutus
Julius Caesar
- Director
- Giovanni Pastrone
- Producer
- Louis Albert
An abbreviated version of the play. Ball finds the picture disappointing, commenting on the poorly handled crowd scenes, unnecessary invented action, and primitive photography and acting.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Mario Caserini
Silent version of Macbeth presented as an historical spectacle and directed by Mario Caserini with Dante Capelli and Maria Gasperini as the Macbeths. Contemporary accounts speak of ‘very fine tableaux’...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Othello
- Director
- Gerolamo Lo Savio
Fiction film version of Othello, filmed mostly on location in Venice, with Ferruccio Garavaglia as Othello.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Romeo and Juliet
Ball (op cit) writes, taking the information from the Wiesbaden brochure, "Deutsche Vitascope made a brief sound film of Romeo and Juliet with Luisa Tettrazzini as Juliet. This was perhaps a presentation of...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
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- Director
- Charles Kent
Abbreviated version of the play directed by Charles Kent with Florence Turner as Viola and Charles Kent as Malvolio.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Barry O’Neil
Fiction film. A version of The Winter’s Tale with Martin Faust as Leontes and Anna Rosemond as Hermione.
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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aka: Antony and Cleopatra
Fiction short. `...as fine an example of the producer’s skill as we have seen. The management of the riotous crowds, the costly splendour of the costumes, and the perfectly artistic spirit in which the...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions To order
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- Director
- Henri Desfontaines
Fiction short. Ball’s attribution of Eclipse as the production company is tentative; he notes that ‘all the external information is puzzling and much of it contradictory’. A detailed account of the...
Shakespeare Shakespeare productions Record only
Learning on Screen