# 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.
Buy cinema tickets for Shakespeare by Lubitsch + intro by Bryony Dixon, BFI National Archive Curator | BFI Southbank
