“Not so silent film”: The sound of early cinema

Silent films were never truly silent. Although archival copies of early cinema typically survive without associated sound, audiences at the time would have experienced these works in environments rich with noise and atmosphere. “Silent” films were screened in exhibition spaces alive with musical accompaniment, audience reactions, the hum of mechanical projection, and in some cases spoken lectures or performers voicing lines alongside the film.

Shakespeare in Silent Film brings together early Shakespearean cinematic adaptations preserved in the BFI National Archive. No sound was recorded during the production of these films (with one intriguing exception). However, audiences during this period did not sit in silence. Depending on the venue, viewers might have encountered a single pianist, a small trio, or, in larger exhibition spaces, full ensembles of musicians.

To facilitate use of this collection across disciplines, including literature, theatre, film and cultural history, where familiarity with silent film and knowledge of early film may vary, we have sought to provide context for this important aspect of early film exhibition. The result is a set of musical accompaniments for a selected sample of films in the resource, newly improvised and performed by silent film pianist Neil Brand. These offer teachers and students a practical way to consider how music shapes interpretation, how it affects the collective experience of watching silent film, and whether it helps us get closer to what it might have felt like to be there. These accompaniments may be particularly useful for courses exploring Shakespeare in performance, early cinema, film music, or adaptation, where comparing accompanied and unaccompanied versions can prompt discussion about interpretation, spectatorship and historical context. These are provided as examples that echo the improvisational spirit of early exhibition, rather than as definitive reconstructions of silent era music.

In his interview, Neil Brand speaks about how experiencing these early Shakespeare films with accompaniment can support contemporary viewership.

Let’s look at this in practice with Hamlet (1913). An early feature length production running 53 minutes, it stars the celebrated Shakespearean performer Johnston Forbes Robertson in the title role. The final 16 minutes of this film have been newly accompanied by Neil Brand. This film provides a particularly rich case study for teaching, along with the other adaptations of Hamlet in the resource that provide opportunities for comparison, ideal for adaptation studies.

Watch the final scene here:

Although a widespread practice, historical traces of silent era accompaniment were usually ephemeral and survive only in limited forms. One example appears in AM’s Victorian Popular Culture. A programme for a screening of Hamlet at the New Gallery Kinema on Regent Street (September 1913) includes references to the music featured alongside the film. Describing itself as offering “music by real artistes” at “the most luxurious picture house in Europe,” it lists the incidental music arranged by Mr M G Fericescu. This emphasis on music, featured prominently in the programme, highlights how central accompaniment was, an expectation and a selling point for audiences.

Silent film exhibition depended on live accompaniment to help bring stories to life, and Shakespeare was no exception. Yet over the course of the silent period, experiments in sound synchronisation were also underway. Some of these innovations engaged directly with Shakespeare’s stories, including The Merchant of Venice (1927). Produced in the same year as The Jazz Singer, it is the earliest surviving example of Shakespeare’s words being uttered in a synchronised sound film. This production used a sound on disc system to record the Old Vic Theatre Company’s performance. The surviving footage - multiple out-takes from two scenes, captured with an otherwise very static camera - place the emphasis squarely on the recorded speech.

Together with King John (1899), the earliest known Shakespeare film, this shows the breadth of the collection, spanning the very beginnings of Shakespeare on screen through to the sound era.

For more information about Shakespeare in Silent Film, including pricing, please request a demo.