Macbeth (1916 film)

1916 film directed by John Emerson

Macbeth

Directed by| John Emerson
Written by| John Emerson (scenario)
Anita Loos (intertitles)
Story by| William Shakespeare
Based on| Macbeth (play)
Produced by| D. W. Griffith
Starring| Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Constance Collier
Cinematography| Victor Fleming
George W. Hill
Distributed by| Triangle Film Corporation

Release date

* June 4, 1916 (1916-6-4) (United States)

Running time

| 8 reels (~7500 feet)
Country| United States
Language| Silent film (English intertitles)
Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Macbeth

Macbeth is a silent, black-and-white 1916 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Macbeth.[1] It was directed by John Emerson, assisted by Erich von Stroheim, and produced by D. W. Griffith, with cinematography by Victor Fleming. The film starred Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Constance Collier, 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. Although 1916 was the middle of WW1, this film was part of numerous festivities to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. It is considered to be a lost film.[2]

In the companion book to his Hollywood television series, Kevin Brownlow 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.[3]

## Cast

[edit]

* Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Macbeth
* Constance Collier as Lady Macbeth
* Wilfred Lucas as Macduff
* Spottiswoode Aitken as Duncan
* Ralph Lewis as Banquo
* Mary Alden as Lady Macduff
* Olga Grey as Lady Agnes
* Lawrence Noskowski as Malcolm
* Bessie Buskirk as Donalbain
* Jack Conway as Lennox
* Seymour Hastings as Ross
* Karl Formes Jr. as the Bishop
* Jack Brammall 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 (Stunt double for Herbert Tree)

## Further reading

[edit]

* Buchanan, Judith (May 14, 2009). "6". Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87199-0.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Macbeth at silentera.com
2. ^ Leggett, Steve (December 29, 2016). "List of 7200 Lost U.S. Silden Feature Films 1912-29" (PDF). Library of Congress. National Film Preservation Board.
3. ^ Brownlow, Kevin; Kobal, John (1979). Hollywood: The Pioneers. Knopf. ISBN 978-0394508511.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Macbeth (1916 film).

* Macbeth at IMDb
* allmovie/synopsis; Macbeth
* Beerbohm Tree and Constance Collier in the film
* another scene with Tree and Connie Collier(Univ of Washington, Sayre collection)

* v
* t
* e

William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Characters|

* Macbeth
* Lady Macbeth
* Banquo
* Macduff
* King Duncan
* Malcolm
* Donalbain
* Three Witches
* Fleance
* Lady Macduff
* Macduff's son
* Third Murderer
* Young Siward

Inspirations|

* Macbeth, King of Scotland
* Gruoch of Scotland
* Duncan I of Scotland
* Malcolm III of Scotland
* Donald III of Scotland
* Siward, Earl of Northumbria
* King James VI and I

Sources|

* Daemonologie (1597)
* The Witch (play)
* Holinshed's Chronicles
* Darraðarljóð

Film|

* 1908
* 1909 (French)
* 1909 (Italian)
* 1911
* 1913
* 1915
* 1916
* 1922
* 1948
* Unfinished
* 1971
* 2006
* 2015
* The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
* accolades

Television|

* 1954
* 1960 US TV
* 1960 Australian TV
* 1961
* 1979
* 1982
* 1983
* 1992
* 2010

TV / film adaptations|

* The Real Thing at Last (1916)
* Marmayogi (1951)
* Joe MacBeth (1955)
* Throne of Blood (1957)
* Marmayogi (1964)
* Macbeth (Verdi opera) (1987)
* Men of Respect (1990)
* Scotland, PA (2001)
* Makibefo (2001)
* Maqbool (2003)
* 2005
* The Last King of Scotland (2006)
* Shakespeare Must Die (2012)
* Thane of East County (2015)
* Veeram (2016)
* Joji (2021)

Plays|

* Khwab-e-Hasti (1909)
* Voodoo Macbeth (1936)
* MacBird! (1967)
* uMabatha (1970)
* Macbett (1972)
* Cahoot's Macbeth (1979)
* MacHomer (1995)
* Just Macbeth! (2008)
* Sleep No More (2009)
* Dunsinane (2010)
* Sleep No More (2011)

Operas|

* Macbeth (1847, Verdi)
* discography
* Macbeth (1910, Bloch)

Literary adaptations|

* Wyrd Sisters (1988)
* The Last King of Scotland (1998)
* Macbeth (2018)

Albums|

* Music from Macbeth (1972)
* Macbeth (1990)
* Thane to the Throne (2000)
* Shakespeare's Macbeth – A Tragedy in Steel (2003)
* Lady Macbeth (2005)

Art|

* Pity (1795)
* The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (1795)
* Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers (1812 painting)
* Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889)
* Lady Macbeth (1905 sculpture)

Scenes and speeches|

* "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" (1823)
* Sleepwalking Scene (5.1)
* "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow"

Words and phrases|

* "What's done is done"
* "Crack of doom"
* The Scottish Play
* Thane of Cawdor

In popular culture|

| Novels, film and theatre|

* We Work Again
* Light Thickens
* The Deadly Affair
* Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine
* The Scottish Play
* Burke & Hare

|

Television|

* "A Witch's Tangled Hare" (1959, Looney Tunes)
* "The Bellero Shield" (1964, The Outer Limits)
* "The Movies" (1975, The Goodies)
* "Sense and Senility" (1987, Blackadder the Third)
* "Sleeping with the Enemy" (2004, The Simpsons)
* "The Coup" (2006, The Office)
* "Dial 'N' for Nerder" (2008, The Simpsons)
* "Four Great Women and a Manicure" (2009, The Simpsons)
* "The Shower Principle" (2012, 30 Rock)
* "The Understudy" (2014, Inside No. 9)

Other|

* Macbeth (Johann Strauss)
* The Scottish Play
* Piano Trios, Op. 70 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
* The Ruins of Cawdor
* House of Cards (UK, 1990)
* House of Cards (US, 2013–2018)
* Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury)

* v
* t
* e

Anita Loos

Novels|

* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Intimate Diary of A Professional Lady. (1926)
* But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1928)

Plays|

* Happy Birthday (1946)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
* Gigi (1951)
* Chéri (1959)

Film
/I signals that Loos also wrote the
intertitles; some works are co-written|

| Writer
(screenplay/
scenario)|

* My Baby (1912)
* The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912)
* The New York Hat (1912)
* The Mistake (1913)
* The Telephone Girl and the Lady (1913)
* Billy's Rival (1914)
* The Girl in the Shack (1914)
* The Hunchback (1914)
* The Sisters (1914/I)
* The Americano (1916/I)
* Stranded (1916/I)
* The Half-Breed (1916)
* His Picture in the Papers (1916)
* The Children Pay (1916)
* A Daughter of the Poor (1917)
* Reaching for the Moon (1917)
* Wild and Woolly (1917)
* Let's Get a Divorce (1918)
* The Isle of Conquest (1919)
* A Virtuous Vamp (1919)
* Mama's Affair (1921)
* Red Hot Romance (1922)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928)
* The Struggle (1931)
* Red-Headed Woman (1932)
* The Barbarian (1933)
* Hold Your Man (1933)
* The Girl from Missouri (1934; original)
* Riffraff (1936)
* San Francisco (1936)
* Saratoga (1937)
* The Women (1939)
* Susan and God (1940)
* Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
* When Ladies Meet (1941)
* The Lost House (1915)
* They Met in Bombay (1941)
* I Married an Angel (1942)
* Producers' Showcase "Happy Birthday" (1956)

|

Story|

* Nell's Eugenic Wedding (1914)
* American Aristocracy (1916)
* Woman's Place (1921)
* Midnight Mary (1933)
* Saratoga (1937)

Novel|

* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
* Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955)

Titles|

* The Americano (1916)
* Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
* Macbeth (1916)
* The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1928)

Other|

* The Branded Woman (1920; adaptation)
* Red Hot Romance (1922; executive producer)
* Blondie of the Follies (1932; dialogue)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953; play)

Uncredited|

* The Cat and the Fiddle (1934)
* The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
* Another Thin Man (1939)
* Babes in Arms (1939)
* Strange Cargo (1940)
* A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by John Emerson

* Old Heidelberg (1915)
* His Picture in the Papers (1916)
* Macbeth (1916)
* The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
* Less Than the Dust (1916)
* The Americano (1916)
* In Again, Out Again (1917)
* Wild and Woolly (1917)
* Down to Earth (1917)
* Reaching for the Moon (1917)
* Come On In (1918)
* Good-Bye, Bill (1918)
* Oh, You Women! (1919)
* Polly of the Follies (1922)

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