![Macbeth 1916 still 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Macbeth_1916_still_2.jpg)
''Macbeth'' is a
silent,
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
1916 film adaptation of the
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
play ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
''. It was
directed
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
by
John Emerson, assisted by
Erich von Stroheim
Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, actor and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. H ...
, and
produced by
D. W. Griffith, with
cinematography
Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography.
Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
by
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best ...
. The film starred
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progra ...
and
Constance Collier
Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insul ...
, both famous from the stage and for playing Shakespearean parts. Although released during the first decade of feature filmmaking, it was already the seventh version of ''Macbeth'' to be produced, one of eight during the silent film era. It is considered to be a
lost film
A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress.
Conditions
During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...
.
In the companion book to his ''
Hollywood'' television series,
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow (born Robert Kevin Brownlow; 2 June 1938) is a British film historian, television documentary-maker, filmmaker, author, and film editor. He is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era, having become inter ...
states that Sir Herbert failed to understand that the production was a silent film and that speech was not needed so much as pantomime. Tree, who had performed the play numerous times on the stage, kept spouting reams of dialogue. So Emerson and Fleming simply removed the film and cranked an empty camera so as not to waste film when he did so.
Cast
*
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager.
Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progr ...
as
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
*
Constance Collier
Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insul ...
as
Lady Macbeth
*
Wilfred Lucas
Wilfred Van Norman Lucas (January 30, 1871 – December 13, 1940) was a Canadian American stage actor who found success in film as an actor, director, and screenwriter.
Early life
Lucas was born in Norfolk County, Ontario on January 30, 1871,US ...
as
Macduff
*
Spottiswoode Aitken
Frank Spottiswoode Aitken (16 April 1868 – 26 February 1933) was a Scottish-American actor of the silent era. He played Dr. Cameron in D. W. Griffith's epic drama ''The Birth of a Nation''.
Early years
Aitken was born 16 April 1868 in Edin ...
as
Duncan
*
Ralph Lewis as
Banquo
Lord Banquo , the Thane of Lochaber, is a semi-historical character in William Shakespeare's 1606 play ''Macbeth''. In the play, he is at first an ally of Macbeth (both are generals in the King's army) and they meet the Three Witches together. ...
*
Mary Alden
Mary Maguire Alden (June 18, 1883 – July 2, 1946) was an American motion picture and stage actress. She was one of the first Broadway actresses to work in Hollywood.
Life
Alden was born in New York City on June 18, 1883. She performed on Br ...
as Lady Macduff
*
Olga Grey
Olga Grey (born Anushka Zacsek or Anna Zacsek, November 10, 1896 – April 25, 1973) was an American silent film actress, sometimes billed with the alternate spelling of her last name, Olga Gray.
She was born in New York city to Hungarian immig ...
as Lady Agnes
*Lawrence Noskowski as
Malcolm
Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to:
People
* Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters
* Clan Malcolm
* Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld
Nobility
* Máe ...
*
Bessie Buskirk as
Donalbain
Donald III (Medieval Gaelic: Domnall mac Donnchada; Modern Gaelic: ''Dòmhnall mac Dhonnchaidh''), and nicknamed "Donald the Fair" or "Donald the White" (Medieval Gaelic:"Domnall Bán", anglicised as Donald Bane/Bain or Donalbane/Donalbain) (c. ...
*
Jack Conway as Lennox
*Seymour Hastings as Ross
*Karl Formes, Jr. as the Bishop
*Jack Brammal as Seyton
*L. Tylden as First Witch
*Scott McKee as Second Witch
*Jack Leonard as Third Witch
*
Francis Carpenter, Thema Burns and Madge Dyer as Macduff's children
*Raymond Wells as the Thane of Cawdor
*George McKenzie as the Doctor
*Chandler House as Fleance
*
Monte Blue
Gerard Montgomery Blue (January 11, 1887 – February 18, 1963) was an American film actor who began his career as a romantic lead in the silent era; and for decades after the advent of sound, he continued to perform as a supporting player ...
(Stunt double for Herbert Tree)
Further reading
*
References
External links
*
allmovie/synopsis; ''Macbeth'' Beerbohm Tree and Constance Collier in the filmanother scene with Tree and Connie CollierUniv of Washington, Sayre collection)
{{John Emerson
American silent feature films
Films based on Macbeth
Films directed by John Emerson
Lost American films
Films with screenplays by Anita Loos
American black-and-white films
1910s American films