Shakespeare by Lubitsch (BFI Southbank)

# Shakespeare by Lubitsch

### + intro by Bryony Dixon, BFI National Archive Curator

Hilarious and timeless double bill of Shakespeare stories by Ernst Lubitsch, relocated to rural Germany.

Sunday 31 August 2025 15:00
NFT1

The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet are given the ‘Lubitsch touch’ in these two delightful films.

## Kohlhiesel’s Daughters

• Director
  Ernst Lubitsch
• With
  Henny Porten, Emil Jannings
• Germany 1920. 65min
• Digital 4K (restoration)
• With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney

Playing dual roles is a great chance for an actor to shine and Henny Porten does a spectacular job playing sisters of a very different character: a vapid beauty versus a grumpy slattern, in this version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. It must have made a refreshing change for the popular German actress to ditch her usual submissive type and go full slapstick. This delightful rustic comedy was a wildly popular domestic hit, but little seen elsewhere. Now restored in colour, its popularity can only rise.

## + Romeo and Julia in the Snow

• Director
  Ernst Lubitsch
• With
  Lotte Neumann, Gustav von Wangenheim
• Germany 1920. 42min
• Digital 4K (restoration)
• With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney

Young love is caught up in a family vendetta in the Black Forest, but ordering ‘poison for two’ from the local apothecary has unexpected consequences.

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