Macbeth (1908)

Original title

Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Sublime Tragedy

Directed by

William V. Ranous, J. Stuart Blackton

Genre

drama film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

11 min

Rating

4.0 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is an early silent film adaptation of Shakespeare's play about a Scottish nobleman who, spurred by prophecy and his wife, murders a king to seize the throne. The story follows his rise to power and his fall into paranoia and violence.

historicaltheatricalstarkserioussilent-eradramaticarchaicsomber

What happens

Macbeth is a silent 1908 American film directed by James Stuart Blackton based on the William Shakespeare play of the same name. It is the second known film version of that play after a short fighting sequence was filmed in 1905 by an unknown director. It was a black and white silent film that had English intertitles. It is currently unknown if any print of the film still exists. A police report to censorship authorities mentioning the scene of the murder of Duncan in the film "might otherwise stand unabashed as the first piece of intelligent criticisim in the field of Shakespearean film". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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