Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse - Hardcover

Buchanan, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521871999 ISBN 13: 9780521871990

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Several hundred films based on Shakespearean material were made in cinema's 'silent' era. What economic and cultural ambitions combined in order to make Shakespeare such attractive source material for the film industry? What were the characteristic approaches of particular production companies and of particular national film industries? How were silent Shakespeare films marketed, distributed, exhibited and received? Through a series of close readings, and drawing upon a wealth of primary research, this engaging account tells an evolving story that both illuminates silent Shakespeare films already known, and brings into critical circulation other films not yet commercially available and therefore little known. Subjects covered include nineteenth-century precursors of silent Shakespeare films, the many Shakespeare films of the Vitagraph Company of America, the blockbuster Shakespeare films of the tercentenary year 1916, Asta Nielsen and Emil Jannings as the stars of German Shakespeare films of the 1920s, and silent films of Hamlet.

About this title

Book Description:

Why was Shakespeare such attractive source material for the silent film industry? How were silent Shakespeare films marketed, distributed, exhibited and received? Drawing on a wealth of primary research, this book analyses in detail a selection of both popular and little-known Shakespeare films made in the silent era.

About the Author:

Judith Buchanan is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies in the Department of English and Related Literature, University of York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0521871999
• ISBN 13: 9780521871990
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 340