Page 54 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

Star-Crossed Lovers I 43

iana; such incidents as the Capulets' party and Verona street fight
were lavishly staged. Later that year, Edwin and Gertrude
Thanhouser produced a spectacular rendition in the United States. In
1916, Metro turned out a Romeo and Juliet with top male star Fran-
cis X. Bushman as Romeo, while Fox produced a competing film fea-
turing Theda Bara, ordinarily typecast as a deadly vamp, as innocent
Juliet.
Lines from the play were heard, for the first time, when John
Gilbert recited the balcony scene in The Hollywood Review of 1929,
an early sound anthology. Radiant young actress Norma Shearer
appeared as Juliet. Shortly, she would emerge as a major star, thanks
in equal parts to beauty, talent, and her marriage to producer Irving
Thalberg, M-G-M's resident boy genius. During his brief life, this
last tycoon pushed for quality projects, particularly if they might
serve as starring vehicles for his inamorata. Indeed, Shearer, bitten
by the Shakespeare bug, was anxious to appear in a full-length
Romeo and Juliet. Sadly, though, the popular tide had turned; the
public at large, now convinced by academics that Shakespare was
above their heads, abandoned the Bard, as did the studio system,
which made its money by pleasing the masses.

All Singing, All Dancing, All Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
M-G-M, 1936; George Cukor

For five years, Thalberg pushed for a Romeo and Juliet project; each
time the concept was pitched, studio boss Louis B. Mayer turned
thumbs down. His decision was due not only to Mayer's anticulture
bias but to the Great Depression, which caused even the Tiffany of
studios to cut costs and avoid risk. Still, M-G-M didn't want to be
outclassed by some upstart, particularly Warner Bros., a Poverty Row
outfit until Jack Warner gambled on sound, its success propelling
the company into Hollywood's top echelon. Jack Warner announced
plans to film Max Reinhardt's acclaimed, if controversial, stage pro-
duction of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not to be outdone, Mayer
at last gave Thalberg the go-ahead for his dream project.
The last thing Thalberg wanted was to be accused by intellectuals
(he was their darling in otherwise outre Los Angeles) of watering