Immortal Gentleman, The

Synopsis
Feature film. William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton meet in a tavern in Southwark. Shakespeare points out people who remind him of scenes from his plays. A wistful woman reminds him of Juliet, a melancholy old man reminds him of Hamlet. The soldier son of the landlord encourages Shakespeare to recite ‘The Seven Ages of Man’. Jonson then leads the company in singing ‘Sigh no more, ladies’. The company’s drunkenness leads Shakespeare to recall scenes from Twelfth Night. Jonson’s cousin Jane comes across the sleeping poet and tells him that she believed him dead; he assures her that he will live forever.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release
1935
Duration
61 mins; 5,457 feet

Credits

Director
Widgey R. Newman
Producer
Widgey R. Newman
Screenplay
John Quin
Music
John Reynders
Art Direction
Maxwell Coborne
Contributor
Terence de Marney
Cast
Anne BoltJane
Anne BoltMaria
Basil GillWilliam Shakespeare
Basil GillMalvolio
Dennis HoeySir Toby Belch
Derrick de MarneyTybalt
Edgar OwenMercutio
Edgar OwenBen Jonson
Fred RainsMiser
J. Hubert LeslieMichael Drayton
Laidman BrownePetruchio
Laidman BrowneFeste
Leo GennShylock
Rosalinde FullerOphelia
Rosalinde FullerJuliet
Roy ByfordSquire
Terence de MarneyRomeo
Terence de MarneyHamlet

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
biographies; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
Shakespearean adviser was Terence de Marney.
Reviews
"As dreadful a film as has ever been made, meanly produced, ill-lit, ill-staged, scarcely directed at all, with some howlingly bad excerpts from the plays...the nadir of filmed Shakespeare’ (McKernan & Terris, Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive’ (London: BFI, 1994), p. 190.

Kingsley-Smith, J.E. ‘Shakespearean Authorship in Popular British Cinema’ Literature/Film Quarterly 30 92002), pp158-65. Also discusses TIME FLIES (1944).

Production Company

Name

Bernard Smith

Archive

Name

BFI National Archive

Web
http://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/searching-access-collections/research-viewing-services External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7255 1444
Fax
020 7436 0165
Address
21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Immortal Gentleman, The". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av36570 (Accessed 13 Dec 2024)