Merchant of Venice, The
- Synopsis
- Fiction film. A version of The Merchant of Venice directed by Phillips Smalley and his wife Lois Weber. Reviewed by Hanford C. Judson in Moving Picture World (February 14) with the heading ‘Full of Dignity and Scholarship’.
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Film
- Technical information
- Black-and-white / Silent
- Year of release
- 1914
- Recording date
- Feb 1914
- Duration
- c44; c4000 feet
- Availability
- Presumed to be a lost film.
Credits
- Director
- Lois Weber; Phillips Smalley
- Screenplay
- Lois Weber
- Cast
Phillips Smalley Shylock Rupert Julian Antonio Douglas Gerrard Bassanio Lois Weber Portia Edna Maison Jessica
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Historical period
- Renaissance Italy
- Plays
- Merchant of Venice, The
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- censorship; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Notes
- Notes
- The film met with problems with the censors. A prominent rabbi in Chicago strongly objected on the grounds that the play ‘more than any other book, more than any other influence in the history of the world, is responsible for the world-wide prejudice against the Jews’. [cited in Ball p.208].
- History
- Presented as a Universal Special Feature. Ball notes that because the film was a special release rather than a release on the regular programme, exhibitors had to pay extra for it which may have contributed to its swift demise.
- Reviews
- Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp206-8, 353-4).
Production Company
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Merchant of Venice, The". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av68641 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)