Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

JoeytheBrit Shakespeare, eh? What a rich seam of material he has provided for filmmakers around the world. Almost as soon as films were being made the Bard's works were being plundered. Here we have a compact telling of The Tempest made in 1908. In its mercifully brief running time it attempts to tell the entire story, using titles to explain the plot rather than provide quotations from the play. Even with these titles I had trouble keeping up with who was who and what was going on and there's no doubt that, even with explanatory titles, the makers assume the viewer possesses a little knowledge about the play. The film is a mixture of location shooting and stage sets, as if it can't decide whether it wants to present a filmed version of the stage play or to free itself of its confines. Settling for a combination of the two isn't the right choice, however – it merely proves to be distracting.

Michael_Elliott Tempest, The (1908) *** (out of 4) Another Shakespeare adaptation works perfectly well and delivers a very magical feel. Part of this is due to the dreamlike camera work but the special effects are also quite good for their time.King John (1899) *** (out of 4) 've been told this was the first Shakespeare adaptation and if so it isn't too bad for what it is. Running just over three minutes this here takes the final pages of the play as King John dies.Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1909) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Yep, more Shakespeare early style. The actual "story" never really comes across here and the title cards just make things even more confusing but the interesting thing are all the technical stuff. Every shot of the film takes place outdoors and all the locations are very nice. The camera angels are also all set up to perfectly capture the mood of the film.

boblipton Released in 1908, the year D.W. Griffith became a film director, Percy Stow's version of THE TEMPEST is shot in a mix of film grammars and to the modern, informed eye, poses the question: which film grammar will be the film grammar of the future: will it be the magic-lantern-inspired editing in use at Edison? Will it be the progression of ideas invented by George Albert Smith? Will it be the Proscenium Arch stage illusion of George Melies, the Zecca-Chomon-Feuillade model popular in France, or something altogether different? Well, today we know that Smith won, so it may seem like a foolish question. Yes, national differences still live on. You can tell if a movie was shot by a French crew, an Italian crew or a Japanese crew by more than the actors involved. But although the vocabulary of cut and framing derives from many sources, the grammar is Smith's.The reason I find this movie so interesting is that it makes an effort -- and I think it is a successful effort -- to combine two of the grammars meaningfully. Prospero lives in a Melies world, bound by the theater's arch and with the scenery painted -- very appropriate, for a magician to live in a stage-magician's world. The others, however, live in a naturalistic world. The edge of the frame is what bounds their world, and they can and do walk right past the edge.Is this a metaphor for the future of cinema? Is the naturalistic grammar of Smith simply better, more expansive? Maybe. Am I reading too much into this? Definitely. But the idea amuses me and, I hope, you. And that's why we look at these old movies: to be amused.

Snow Leopard This fun little short, silent movie version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" shows its age at times, but it is an excellent effort considering all the limitations of the era. It covers much of the main plot of the play, and the first few minutes actually consist of events that had already happened when Shakespeare's play begins, and which the characters in the play refer back to - so it's interesting to see them as part of the story here.The fantasy nature of the plot lends itself well to special effects, and they tried quite a few things that were very imaginative for the time. While some of them reveal the cinematic limitations of 1908, most of them work pretty well and add some real energy to the film. According to the Milestone video, the cast list is now unfortunately unknown. Most of them are adequate, though nothing special, but the young girl playing Ariel is very entertaining, and steals most of the scenes that her character is in.If you like Shakespeare and silent films, you should enjoy this short feature.