Romeo and Juliet (1916)

Directed by

Francis X. Bushman

Genre

silent film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 20m

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a lost silent film adaptation of Shakespeare's famous play. It tells the story of two young lovers from feuding families in Verona. The film was released in 1916 to mark the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

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What happens

Romeo and Juliet is a lost 1916 American silent film based on William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. John W. Noble is credited as director and Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne star as the lovers. This film was produced in 1916, the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and was released amongst many other commemorations of his works. A mock "Italian" village was constructed on Brighton Beach in Brooklyn at the cost of $250,000. This film was produced and released in direct competition with another film, Romeo and Juliet produced by William Fox, starring Theda Bara, and released three days later. Bushman later claimed, in an interview, that he went to see the Theda Bara version and was shocked to see that Fox had added some intertitles from the Metro version. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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