Romeo and Juliet (1908 film)

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Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet (1908) - A Pictorial History of the Movies.jpg
Tybalt and Mercutio duel
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Based on Romeo and Juliet
1597 play
by William Shakespeare
Produced byJ. Stuart Blackton
Starring Paul Panzer
Florence Lawrence
Distributed by Vitagraph Studios
Release date
  • June 6, 1908 (1908-06-06)(United States)
Running time
15 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language Silent film

Romeo and Juliet is a silent film short made in 1908 made by Vitagraph Studios. [1] It was the first American film version of the play. Directed by J. Stuart Blackton, it was filmed at Bethesda Terrace in Manhattan, New York.

Contents

The film starred Paul Panzer as Romeo and Florence Lawrence as Juliet.

According to the Silent Era Company, a complete print of the film survives. [2]

Plot summary

The film presents a significantly abridged version of the Romeo and Juliet story. The extant second half of the film covers the last three acts of the play in only fifteen minutes, from Romeo's duel with Tybalt to the respective suicides of Romeo and Juliet. As in the play, the film depicts Romeo dueling and killing Tybalt before fleeing on the advice of Friar Laurence. Juliet is ordered to marry Count Paris but devises a plan to fake her death using poison; however, her letter informing Romeo of the plan is not delivered, and he believes she has actually died. In despair, he commits suicide. Once Juliet realizes this, she commits suicide as well.

The film, silent with only limited intertitles, contains very little dialogue. Most of the plot is communicated through the body language of the performers. As such, many parts of the plot are communicated only indirectly or elided--for example, although the film's ending depicts Friar Laurence in despair after the couple's death, it does not directly show a reconciliation between the Capulet and Montague families.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Buchanan, Judith (2009). Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse. Cambridge University Press. p. 108. ISBN   978-1-107-40372-7.
  2. ↑ "Silent Era : PSFL : Romeo and Juliet (1908)". www.silentera.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-05. Retrieved 2025-01-30.


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