Hamlet Made over

Alternative title
Hamlet Up-To-Date
Synopsis
Fiction comedy short. When a staging of Hamlet fails the manager insists on putting on a revised version and persuades a wealthy girl to play Ophelia. In the performance the Ghost does a song and dance routine with six little girls while Polonious wears a top hat and appears as a magician. Ophelia is made up as Yum Yum and recites ‘Curfew shall not ring tonight’, the asbestos is lowered onto Hamlet’s neck making him a target and finally he is tarred and feathered.
Country
United States
Medium
Film
Technical information
Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release
1916
Recording date
4 Mar 1916
Duration
11 mins; 1000 feet
Availability
No archive copy found, presumed a lost film.

Credits

Director
Earl Metcalfe
Screenplay
Mark Swan
Cast
Billie ReevesThe tragedian
Carrie ReynoldsThe girl
Clarence J. ElmerThe King
William H. TurnerThe manager

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Plays
Hamlet
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
Douglas Lanier ‘Film Spin-offs and Citations’ in Shakespeares After Shakespeare (p. 148, entry 604) credits the writer as Mack Sennett; Ball cites Mark Swan as writer.
History
Released in the UK August 21 1916 with the title HAMLET UP-TO-DATE.
Reviews
Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (p. 219).

Moving Picture World March 4 1916 (summary and advertisement); March 8 (comment).McKernan, Luke and Olwen Terris. Walking Shadows: Shakespeare in the National Film and Television Archive. London: BFI, 1994

Production Company

Name

Lubin Manufacturing Company

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Hamlet Made over". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av68546 (Accessed 27 Dec 2024)