John Barrymore Performs Shakespeare
Uploaded by: cbeg
Video Description:
From 1929, "The Great Profile" performs a Richard III soliloquy from Henry VI, iii.
Arguably John Barrymore's best Shakespearean performance captured on film.
Tags for this video: Barrymore Henry III Richard Shakespeare soliloquy VI
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| Comments for this video on YouTube |
| Thank you for ... ( 1 year ago by seanparker124) |
| Thank you for sharing this! I once owned WB's "The Show of Shows", but I lost it. Barrymore showed Hollywood his amazing talent. Wish he wasn't too sick to do Hamlet in the mid 30's. He couldn't remember his lines. Anybody know where I could see a copy of his screen test? I know the Library of Congress has a copy. |
| The last one to ... ( 1 year ago by Howl27) |
| The last one to join the others on the hill, he brings the head. |
| Creepy ( 1 year ago by emersonsmartset) |
| Creepy |
| According to some ... ( 1 year ago by mendoncacorreia) |
| According to some cognizants, John Barrymore was the greatest Richard III ever: I confess I lost my last doubts about it when I compared this clip with the other one you can find here in "YouTube" starring Laurence Olivier... What a pity John Barrymore had already so many personal and health problems when this shot was taken: after his mesmerizing "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", one could only expect he would do more and better movies than he has really done... |
| This was originally ... ( 1 year ago by perfectjazz78) |
| This was originally shot in Two Color Technicolor. |
| What a treasure. ... ( 1 year ago by bbxx44) |
| What a treasure. Barrymore is outstanding. So often these old clips are so overemoted, but Barrymore withstands the test of time. It's a shame he there isn't more. Thanks for sharing this. |
| This precious clip ... ( 1 year ago by jghermanater) |
| This precious clip from 1929 shows how great Barrymore was as a Shakespearean actor; there was no greater Hamlet - see Olivier's comments on John's London performance. |
| this 5 minutes of ... ( 1 year ago by deepseadirt) |
| this 5 minutes of Barrymore reciting Richard III from Henry VI pt. 1 in Warner Bros. "Show of Shows"(1929) gives a peak into what barrymore's 1920 Richard III stage production must've been like on Broadway. Too bad he didn't just do the whole play as an early talkie. All in all this is an early peak into Shakespeare on sound film and perhaps indicated the possibilities for the future. |
| You should watch " ... ( 1 year ago by seanparker124) |
| You should watch "Twentieth Century" w/ Carol Lombard and "Counsellor at Law" and, not too mention, "Dinner at Eight". He understood the camera. He and Lionel respected each other tremendously. |
| when asked what he ... ( 9 months ago by drew081682) |
| when asked what he thought about being the greatest actor of all time, barrymore responded that there were on 2 great actors: Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles. While I would not disagree with him, I would say there are 3: John Barrymore being 1st among them. |
| It's supposed to be ... ( 9 months ago by drew081682) |
| It's supposed to be the "idea" of richard III not the actual person, but his perception in Tudor England...a ruthless, deformed tyrant. |
| Barrymore was older ... ( 6 months ago by fstorm) |
| Barrymore was older than your usual Mercutio, but I think he made the role work in a different way-- as a decadently overaged pursuer of youthful friendship (although of women too), using his gift of entertaining speech to earn his otherwise unjustifiable place among the kids. |
| I'm rather proud to ... ( 5 months ago by bchfront) |
| I'm rather proud to relate that my grandfather made a modest-contribution to the "Show of Shows": He composed a number for then heavyweight French-Champ Georges Carpentier, called "If I Could Learn to Love as Well as I Fight". My grandfather, M.K. Jerome,was part-of a brace of songwriters brought out here when talkies came-in. However, the Barrymore soliloquy is certainly,now, the only memorable thing in the pic! And while mentioning Mr. B's credits, don't forget "Midnight" -- beautiful! R.J. |
| Thank you for your ... ( 5 months ago by cbeg) |
| Thank you for your comment. I actually enjoyed the flick, although it moved a 'tad' slowly ~ a real showcase of early vaudevillians, nonetheless. I caught the movie on TMC some 15 years ago and thought the Barrymore scene was excellent. Am still lacking the last 15 minutes or so of the movie. From the soundtrack, I gather that one of the more popular tunes for '29 was "Lady Luck." |
| Dear cbeg: Thanks ... ( 5 months ago by bchfront) |
| Dear cbeg: Thanks for your nice response. Actually, you're "one-up" on moi-- the first and last time I saw this, it had been "unearthed" for a showing at UCLA, many years ago, and outside of Barrymore, and maybe the aforementioned number w/Carpentier, I seem to recall being spectacularly bored! You maybe right, however, about "Lady Luck" -- that was, I think, the shows' big-finale. Alot of the tunesmiths brought over for this pic,like my grandfather,stayed-out here, and did quite well! R.J. |
| Fantastic-thanks ... ( 5 months ago by blackwingy) |
| Fantastic-thanks for posting it. |
| where on earth did ... ( 5 months ago by faustwriter) |
| where on earth did you come up with this? it's brilliant. i thought the only footage of Barrymore as Richard was his piece from a TV show in the 50's. it's amazing that this even exists. thank you very much for putting it up. |
| Hi, Faustwriter! ... ( 5 months ago by cbeg) |
| Hi, Faustwriter! It's from the '29 Warner Bros. extravaganza "Show of Shows." I think it's one of Barrymore's finest Shakespearean film performances. I first saw it at the Libr. of Congress back in the early 80's; TCM ran it about 15 years ago. Glad you enjoyed it! |
| "The Show of Shows" ... ( 5 months ago by bchfront) |
| "The Show of Shows" actually shows-up on TCM more-often than you would suspect. I can tell you this first-hand, because whenever its' on, we get royalties on it. It doesn't show-up now as frequently as it once-did on our ASCAP -survey, but Turner still runs-it some. You just have to look for it! R.J. |
| Please let me know ... ( 4 months ago by cbeg) |
| Please let me know when it being shown again. I never got to see the last 15 minutes or so. Besides, I want to hear "Lady Luck" one more time! |
| Dear cbeg: Your ... ( 4 months ago by bchfront) |
| Dear cbeg: Your message received. Of course, I don't usually know about it's having been shown until "after the fact", because that's how ASCAP operates on these things -- however, I would think by your dropping a line to "programming" or Osborne directly and inquiring, you might get satisfaction. As I said, it's been years since I saw this, but I do remember "Lady Luck" because, the whole cast participated,and there's a cutaway to Barrymore, "cutting-up" as only he could! All best. R.J. |
| I am reminded of ... ( 3 months ago by davewatcher) |
| I am reminded of the comedian Emo Phillips |
| Shakespearean ... ( 2 months ago by deepseadirt) |
| Shakespearean performances were common by American actors in the 19th century, minus British accents and no television or radio. JB as boy knew a lot of the old actors such as Edwin Booth through his grandmother Mrs Drew who ran a Philly theater and Richard Mansfield who was a friend of JB's father Maurice. The style of Shakespearean actor was florid and in your face unpretentious. It was a time when old actors could play Romeo etc. |
| I had the ... ( 3 weeks ago by smenkare27) |
| I had the priveledge of playing John Barrymore in "I hate Hamlet" and the audio recording of this and other Shakespeare monolgues done by The Great Profile helped immensely. I think that this sort of unabashed in your face Shakespeare is refreshing in an era where everything is so understated! There are a couple of LPs of Barrymore performing Shakespeare--usually available on e-bay--check them out! |
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