King John

1899 Drama 1 minute (surviving scene) Directed by Walter Pfeffer Dando

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About King John

Four short scenes were filmed from Herbert Beerbohm Tree's production of Shakespeare's King John. The one that survives is the death scene. Tree, as John, writhes while Prince Henry (Dora Tulloch, also billed Dora Senior) and the lords stand by him. The British Film Institute notes that the lip movements match John's speech from 'Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room.'

Cast & crew

More about King John

William Kennedy Laurie Dickson and Walter Pfeffer Dando produced and directed it in September 1899. Tree staged the scenes from his forthcoming production at Her Majesty's Theatre. Dickson photographed them in 68mm at the company's open-air studio on the Embankment, not in the theater. The four subjects were the temptation scene (John, Hubert, Arthur), the lamentation (Constance and the French court), the dying scene, and the death scene. Only the death scene is known to survive, about 89 feet. American Mutoscope and Biograph later issued that scene as Beerbohm Tree: The Great English Actor.

Themes

  • King John's death
  • Prince Henry at the bedside
  • a scene cut from the play
  • King John
  • Herbert Beerbohm Tree
  • Prince Henry
  • Shakespeare
  • 68mm
  • Embankment

Making

Dickson filmed Tree's company outdoors on the Embankment so the 68mm camera could use daylight. The gestures are broad because the scene had no sound.

Look

Dickson photographed one setup of the death scene in 68mm daylight at the Embankment studio.

Preservation

Only the death scene survives, about 89 feet of 68mm, preserved from a Netherlands Film Museum print. The other three scenes are missing. The BFI documents the surviving shot.

Notes

  • It is the earliest known film of a Shakespeare play.
  • The four scenes together would have run about four minutes. Three are missing.
  • BFI Screenonline lists F. M. Paget as Bigot and James Fisher as Pembroke in the surviving scene. Another scene list also names Salisbury.
  • The negative was 68mm, wider than the usual 35mm.
  • It was also sold as flip-cards for a mutoscope.
  • The death scene was meant to advertise the stage production, which opened at Her Majesty's in September 1899.

Scenes

  • Tree as the dying king twists on the couch while Prince Henry and the lords watch.

Influenced by

  • King John by William Shakespeare

Quotes

Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room.