Legitimate Cinema: Theatre Stars In Silent British Films, 1908-1918 Theatre Stars In Silent British Films, 1908-1918

This is the first new book-length study of British cinema of the 1910s to be published for over fifty years, and it focuses on the close relationship between the British film industry and the Edwardian theatre. Why were so many West End legends such as Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Ellen Terry repeatedly tempted to dabble in silent film work? Why were film producers so keen to employ them? Jon Burrows studies their screen performances and considers how successfully they made the transition from one medium to the other, and offers some controversial conclusions about the surprisingly broad social range of filmgoers to whom their films appealed. Front Cover 1 Half Title 3 Exeter Studies in Film History 4 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 List of Illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction 13 Chapter 1: ‘Only in England is Such Characterisation Possible’: Class, Taste, National Values and the Edwardian Stage Actor 39 Chapter 2: British ‘Films d’Art’: Theatre Stars in Transitional Cinema, 1908–1911 55 Chapter 3: Patterns of ‘Convergence’ in Pre-war Entertainment: Legitimate Actors in Music Halls 102 Chapter 4: Lost in the Translation: The Troubled Reception of Forbes-Robertson’s Hamlet (1913) 124 Chapter 5: Transferable Skills: The Edwardian Character Actor on the Screen 153 Chapter 6: ‘The Whole English Stage To Be Seen For Sixpence’: Ideal’s ‘High-Class’ Wartime Films 192 Conclusion 237 Notes 244 Bibliography 275 Index 285 Back Cover 292 "This is the first new book-length study of British cinema in the 1910s to be published in over 50 years. It presents new frameworks for evaluating this subject by focusing on a defining feature of British films in this period: the ubiquitous presence of famous theatrical stars in leading roles." "All the major British studios of the 1910s produced theatrically derived vehicles for the great and good of the British stage; practically all of the leading lights of the West End made multiple film appearances at this time. In studying their screen performances, Jon Burrows considers how successfully they made the transition from one medium to the other and offers some surprising conclusions about the relatively broad social range of spectators their films addressed."--BOOK JACKET