Some critics liked the film, but on the whole, neither critics nor the public responded enthusiastically. Reception Īccording to MGM records, the film earned $2,075,000 worldwide but because of its high production cost lost $922,000. The stars in attendance were so grief-stricken that publicist Frank Whitbeck, standing in front of the theater, abandoned his usual policy of interviewing them for a radio broadcast as they entered and simply announced each one as he or she arrived. On the night of the Los Angeles premiere of the film at the Carthay Circle Theatre, legendary MGM producer Irving Thalberg, husband of Norma Shearer, died at age 37. Ĭlusters of images are used to define the central characters: Romeo is first sighted leaning against a ruined building in an arcadian scene, complete with a pipe-playing shepherd and his dog the livelier Juliet is associated with Capulet's formal garden, with its decorative fish pond. The film includes two songs drawn from other plays by Shakespeare: "Come Away Death" from Twelfth Night and "Honour, Riches, Marriage, Blessing" from The Tempest. He speaks lines which Shakespeare gave to other Capulet servants, making him the instigator of the opening brawl. The role of Peter is enlarged, and played by Andy Devine as a faint-hearted bully. The party scene, choreographed by Agnes de Mille, includes Rosaline (an unseen character in Shakespeare's script) who rebuffs Romeo. A number of scenes are expanded as opportunities for visual spectacle, including the opening brawl (set against the backdrop of a religious procession), the wedding and Juliet's funeral. In contrast, the role of Friar Laurence (an important character in the play) is much reduced. Several scenes are interpolated, including three sequences featuring Friar John in Mantua. Jennings retained more of Shakespeare's poetry for the young lovers than any of his big-screen successors. Others are filmic: designed to replace words with action, or rearranging scenes in order to introduce groups of characters in longer narrative sequences. Many of these cuts are common ones in the theatre, such as the second chorus and the comic scene of Peter with the musicians. Īs in most Shakespeare-based screenplays, Cukor and his screenwriter Talbot Jennings cut much of the original play, using around 45% of it. The shoot extended to six months, and the budget reached $2 million, MGM's most expensive sound film up to that time. In consequence, actors previously noted for naturalism were found to give more stage-like performances. In addition to such noted Shakespearean actors as Howard and Barrymore, Thalberg cast many screen actors and brought in East Coast drama coaches (such as Frances Robinson Duff who coached Shearer) to teach them. Thalberg's vision was that the performance of Norma Shearer, his wife, would dominate the picture. Thalberg had only one choice for director: George Cukor, who was known as "the women's director". John Barrymore, Leslie Howard and Basil Rathbone from a lobby card. of Cornell) were flown to the set, with instructions to criticise the production freely. Thalberg's stated intention was "to make the production what Shakespeare would have wanted had he possessed the facilities of cinema." He went to great lengths to establish authenticity and the film's intellectual credentials: researchers were sent to Verona to take photographs for the designers the paintings of Botticelli, Bellini, Carpaccio, and Gozzoli were studied to provide visual inspiration and two academic advisers (John Tucker Murray of Harvard and William Strunk Jr.
On the stage Tybalt was played by nineteen year old Orson Welles. Rathbone is the only actor from the 1934 revival to appear in the film, albeit in the role of Tybalt rather than Romeo. It starred Katharine Cornell as Juliet, Basil Rathbone as Romeo, Brian Aherne as Mercutio, and Edith Evans as The Nurse.
The success of a 1934 Broadway revival also encouraged the idea of a film version. that Mayer, not to be outdone, gave Thalberg the go-ahead. Warner announced his intention to film Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream at Warner Bros. Mayer believed that the mass audience considered the Bard over their heads, and also he was concerned with the studio's budget constraints during the early years of the Great Depression. Producer Irving Thalberg pushed MGM for five years to make a film of Romeo and Juliet, in spite of studio head Louis B. See also: Romeo and Juliet on screen: George Cukor (1936) Development