Romeo and Juliet

Synopsis
Abbreviated version of the play with Julia M.Taylor as Juliet and George Lessey as Romeo. Ball (op cit) notes ‘The costuming was good, and all in all the film contains considerable visual movement, and avoids the unintelligible talkiness we have met before partly by the inclusion of explanatory subtitles, a few of which are Shakespearean’.
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release
1911
Duration
c2,000 feet

Credits

Director
Barry O’Neil
Screenplay
Theodore Marston
Cast
George LesseyRomeo
Julia M. TaylorJuliet
William GarwoodFriar Laurence
Mrs George W. WaltonNurse
Robert Halt 

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Historical period
Elizabethan
Plays
Romeo and Juliet
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
The BFI National Archive copy is incomplete (16mm, 360ft, 10mins). Depicts the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, Friar Laurence advising Romeo to flee, Romeo departing from Juliet’s bedchamber, Juliet’s parents tell her to marry Paris, Juliet and her nurse visit Friar Laurence, the Friar writes to Romeo, Juliet drinks poison, Romeo hears of her death and buys poison from the apothecary, Romeo kills Paris at Juliet’s tomb, Romeo takes poison and dies at Juliet’s side, Juliet awakes and kills herself. Friar Laurence enters the tomb [final sequence missing].
General
The identification of William Garwood as the Friar is tentative. Some sources give Irma Taylor as Juliet. Ball credits Barry O’Neil as director and Gertrude Thanhouser and Lloyd Lonergan as the script writers,
History
Originally distributed as two separate reels, each a complete story, leaving exhibitors with the choice of showing them singly or together. Part 1 was released 1 September 1911 and Part 2 September 8.
Reviews
Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp70-3, 317).

Production Company

Name

Thanhauser Film Corporation

Distributor (VHS)

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, "Romeo and Juliet". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av68527 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)