King Lear

Synopsis
Fiction film with William V. Ranous directing and taking the title role.
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release
1909
Recording date
27 Mar 1909
Duration
10 mins; 960 feet
Availability
No archive copy known (6/2007).

Credits

Director
William V. Ranous
Cast
William V. RanousLear
Julia Swayne GordonCordelia
Florence AuerRegan
Florence TurnerGoneril

Additional Details

Production type
Documentary/Educational/News
Plays
King Lear
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
The Library of Congress holds the paper film strips deposited for copyright March 17 1909.
General
The identification of director and cast is tentative.
Reviews
Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (p. 41, 51-2, 95, 138, 313).

New York Dramatic Mirror (3 April 1909) wrote ` King Lear is not an easy subject to handle, and we think the Vitagraph adaptors have made the mistake of trying to adhere too closely to the book, instead of taking only the principal incidents of the plot and making these clear in a connected story. The result is that the pictures fails to hold the interest of the spectators’.

Production Company

Name

Vitagraph Company of America

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "King Lear". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av68536 (Accessed 12 Nov 2024)