SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

A filmed record (with Beerbohm Tree’s consent) of the opening storm scene from his stage production of The Tempest. Urban’s catalogue describes the scenes thus: ‘This remarkable picture, taken under ordinary conditions of stage lighting during representation, illustrates the great advances in animate photography which the motion camera has rendered possible. The shipwreck with all its intense realism is reproduced with startling detail. The lightnings flash, the billows leap and roll...Three views are given in the film, each from a more distant point as the wreck recedes, and as the film is issued tinted to a suitable weird moonlight colour, the effect is very fine...'

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Film

Technical information

Black-and-white / Silent

Year of release

1905

Duration

1 mins; 100 feet

Availability

Presumed a lost film.

Credits

Cast

Viola Tree	Ariel
Basil Gill	Ferdinand
J. Fisher White	Gonzalo
Lyn Harding	Antonio
S.A. Cookson	Alonso
W.A. Haines	Boatswain

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Tempest, The

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General

Tree’s production had opened at His Majesty’s, London on September 1904, ran for 143 performances and was later revived.

Reviews

Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp30-2, 306).

Production Company

Name

Urban Trading Company