Here are the silent films of the iconic and world-famous actress Sarah Bernhardt. This revered stage thespian was born in 1844 and died in 1923. She was practically royalty when she deigned to appear in a few silent films.
LE DUEL D’HAMLET (1900) – In this roughly 2-minute short, the 56-year-old Bernhardt gave cinema a gender-flipped Hamlet as she fenced with Pierre Magnier as Laertes in the climactic duel.
“The Divine Sarah” as she came to be called, was spryer and more athletic than women half her age. This brief moment of history was the first time ANY scene from Hamlet had been presented on film.
TOSCA (1908, 1912) – Bernhardt portrayed Floria Tosca in this adaptation of the Puccini opera. (Yes, it’s a silent movie version of an opera.) The entire story was condensed into just 40 minutes and Sarah was so appalled with the production that she insisted that it not be released and, in fact, wanted it destroyed!
Luckily for cinema history, it was merely shelved for 4 years and wound up getting released to cash in on the success that Sarah’s silent movie about Queen Elizabeth the First was enjoying in 1912. Continue reading
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