King Lear
About King Lear
Gerolamo Lo Savio filmed Shakespeare's King Lear for Film d'Arte Italiana, with Ermete Novelli as Lear and Francesca Bertini, near the start of her film work, as Cordelia. Giannina Chiantoni plays Cordelia's sister. Olga Giannini Novelli is credited as another daughter. The short uses Pathé's color process on most of its length.
Cast & crew
More about King Lear
Lo Savio directed. Pathé Frères distributed the Italian title Re Lear. The original length is 325 meters, of which 280 were in color. A surviving print is 293 meters, timed at 15 minutes at 16 frames per second. Il Cinema Ritrovato has shown a copy with English intertitles. The release year is 1910. A review dated 10 December 1910 shows it was already out.
Themes
Making
Pathé's Italian art-film branch put a famous stage Lear, Novelli, into a reel and spent most of the footage on the company's color process.
Reviews
On 10 December 1910, Eldea in La Cine-Fono e la Rivista Fono-Cinematografica called the film a success, and singled out the Pathé color, the landscapes, and Novelli's Lear.
Preservation
A surviving print is 293 meters, about 15 minutes at 16 frames per second, against an original 325 meters of which 280 were in color.
Notes
- Of the original 325 meters, 280 were in color.
- Bertini's Cordelia is one of her first film parts, taken at the end of 1910.
- The festival note credits Chiantoni as Cordelia's sister and does not assign Olga Giannini Novelli a line of her own.
- Film d'Arte Italiana's early program was stage plays: Shakespeare among them.
Influenced by
- William Shakespeare's King Lear
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Re Lear (1910) .webm)