Page 42 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

The Winter of Our Discontent I 31

Frank Rich noted in the New York Times, "Warde himself thought
his performance suffered from the substitution of mime for the
words he loved to speak on stage." Although Warde engaged in
scenery chewing, there was the occasional moment of inspiration.
Todd McCarthy noted in Variety (1996): "(The) actor's most memo-
rable touch has him running his fingers along his sword after run-
ning through the elderly Henry VI and then licking the blood off
them." However obvious this may appear today, the moment repre-
sented a significant attempt to create clear visual correlations to
Shakespeare's words.
While Keane's film deserves classic status as a time capsule, it
hardly rates high marks for quality, even at its early juncture. While
Keane shot Life and Death, Griffith was inventing the unique vocab-
ulary of pure cinema by cutting within a scene for dramatic effect
and choosing camera angles and movements to express a director's
attitude. There is no such artistry in Life and Death, which was
filmed in medium-to-long shot; the camera rarely moved except for
a slight pan to keep a walking character in frame. Life and Death
lacks creative editing (Keane cuts only to connect one sequence with
the next) except for occasional close-ups of historical documents the
audience must see for the sake of continuity.
As was customary at the time, scenes were tinted for emotional
effect. Costumes (borrowed from Broadway productions) are lush and
extravagant, though the interior sets {Life and Death was shot at;
City Island on Long Island Sound, and exteriors were completed
thereafter in Westchester County) are noticeably artificial. They are
sketchy backdrops and resemble the fantastical sets in George
Melies's early French film experiments, only without the notable
charm. This film, while invaluable for Shakespearean cinema com-
pletists, hardly rates as a masterpiece on any aesthetic level.

"All occasions do inform against me!"
Richard III
Lopert Productions, 1955; Laurence Olivier

More than forty years would pass before Richard III again appeared
on-screen. During the post-World War II era, Lopert Productions was
founded by Alexander Korda to provide high-quality British films,