The Tempest
About The Tempest
Sailors lower the child Miranda to Prospero on an enchanted island. He subdues Caliban at sword point and frees Ariel from a hollow tree. Years later Ariel, turning into a monkey, drives Caliban off when he approaches Miranda. Prospero's book, cauldron, and powders explode into doves. He raises a storm that sinks Duke Antonio's ship. Ferdinand, washed ashore, loves Miranda. Prospero tests him and then blesses them. A feast Ariel sets before Antonio vanishes. Antonio asks forgiveness. Ariel is freed. Everyone leaves by boat except Caliban, who is pushed away.
Cast & crew
More about The Tempest
Percy Stow directed Langford Reed's script for Clarendon, the company Stow founded with Henry Vassal Lawley. The film runs 12 minutes and was released in 1908. It is the second filming of Shakespeare's play. In 1905 Charles Urban had shot about two and a half minutes of the storm from Herbert Beerbohm Tree's production at Her Majesty's Theatre. Stow's version was written for the camera and includes the island backstory.
Themes
Background
Tree's 1905 storm fragment was a record of a stage production. This Clarendon reel is a film version, with scenes Shakespeare places before the first act.
Making
Clarendon specialized in trick pictures. Stow uses the play as a chain of substitutions: a tree that opens, a monkey that was a spirit, a feast that is gone, a ship that sinks in a tank.
Look
Stow stages the tricks in the camera: Ariel’s disappearance is a jump cut, the ritual blows doves out of the explosion, and the banquet is removed between frames.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A print is included on the British Film Institute DVD Silent Shakespeare.
Notes
- Ariel appears and vanishes by jump cut, and turns into a monkey to scare Caliban.
- The storm and the disappearing banquet are trick shots in the manner of Georges Méliès.
- The British Film Institute included it on the DVD Silent Shakespeare, with an optional commentary by Judith Buchanan.
- No cast list for the short has been established.
Scenes
- Prospero cuts Caliban down with a sword and then opens the tree that holds Ariel.
- Ariel turns into a monkey and scares Caliban away from Miranda.
- The banquet set for Antonio disappears, and he asks to be forgiven.
Influenced by
- William Shakespeare's The Tempest
Also available
- BFI DVD: Silent Shakespeare