Film of Sarah Bernhardt in "Daniel" 1921

Accompanied by a recording of Bernahrdt as Phedre made in 1902.
Sarah Bernhardt (October 22, 1844 March 26, 1923) was a French stage actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress in the history of the world". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah."

[@garethjones2596]

The tale is that when she saw herself on film, she remarked, "I shall have to learn to act all over again." She clearly recognized that the lifetime of tricks learned on the stage had no place on film.

[@11kwright]

I'd say!!!!

[@jacquelinesternberg8461]

What is stunning is her breath control; it seems she barely even takes a breath throughout this long declamation. That said, her acting style would not go over with modern audiences, though she apparently wowed audiences when she was young by projecting powerful emotions.

[@promopera]

A very old recording, but she was great. Her exceptional coloring of her voice - her most striking asset - that Bernhardt owes the largest share of her fame.

[@19Edurne]

It was the way actors used to "déclamer" (deliver) their lines in those times.

[@seronymus]

11 years late i know, but I was wondering why it sounded a bit "creepy" in her voice.

[@19Edurne]

@@seronymus I'm still alive, so it's not too late. ;)

[@wookinooki9023]

now i understand the artificial declamatory style adopted by Ginger Rogers at the beginning of the movie "The Barclay sof Broadway", when "emotionally reciting" La Marseillaise in a ttheatrical audition WITHIN a play titled "The Young Sarah".

[@domainofthesun4400]

If I'm not mistaken, she played this role from a chair because her leg had been amputated. One tough cookie.

[@alvexok5523]

That was strange, to say the least. But it was strange in a good fascinating kind of way. I don't know if that was Sarah's character's doctor or husband by her bedside as she was apparently dying from an illness (something more common 100 years ago), but people had these spirits about them that they don't have today, they were definitely less skeptical and most people believed that when dying their spirit would leave their bodies and move on to the next world, or newborn life, or whatever. I also notice how in dying scenes, people were much more often in their beds at home and not in a hospital. That's how more people wanted their last moments, in the familiarity of home and with their families by their bedside. Makes sense to me. And they much more often than today did have doctors making house calls

[@wookinooki9023]

wow, so many grammar errors in the 1921 intertitles.

[@kevincoxhead7137]

She is actually reading a passage from one of her most famous roles "Phedre"

[@PeterTiefel]

Au weia!

[@ferociousgumby]

Why does her voice quiver like that? It sounds weird.

[@ericalbany]

It was a style- like using tremolo while singing. Sometimes it can be overdone.

[@khadijahfyffe2255]

sarah bernhardt is the best she's was great especially shakespeare's hamlet

[@mgwaustin9213]

I understand and appreciate that Bernhardt was regarded as the greatest actress of her generation. And it is unfortunate that all we have are a few recordings and some silent films performed in the melodramatic manner of the times. However, I have read in a number of places that even "naturalistic" acting during her time was so stilted that modern audiences would laugh her off of the stage. Think of how stilted early talkies were. This does not denegrate her stature, but styles have changed and modern audiences would find her to be as unwatchable as many very highly educated friends of mine find the singing style used in opera to be unlistenable.

[@searchers]

Do you realize that the opera house is the only place you can hear true singing (assuming they do not yet use microphones). Opera singers have to use their body and voice to produce sound, nothing else. Everybody else you hear singing can use microphone amplification and computer generated effects to produce their "singing". Most pop, rock, folk, etc., singers have very weak voices. A pop performer can be barely audible, yet sing closely into a mike, and be amplified and computerized as a great voice and great singer. Opera singing style was developed 400 years ago because that was the only way your voice could be heard, even in halls seating a few hundred people.

[@xxxafterglow]

But even here, where we don't have a visual to match the audio, you can hear her golden voice and the emotion behind her lines. I'm always baffled by the idea that modern audiences wouldn't "get" something; we can still appreciate the Mona Lisa and cave paintings, Beethoven, etc. If anything, it's never been easier to self-study arts appreciation.

[@Ruby_Villain]

Nothing is unwatchable, if one has an appreciation of the time period and style

[@siempremarisol]

great

[@5tpxyyrk]

Assumably, the fact that she was nearly 80 years old in 1921 explains why there are no close-ups of her ...?

[@Liara_I_Sorry]

There are close ups of her. And she had a perfect face in her youth according to the Golden ratio.

[@fabriziomariagarzi5534]

Praticamente una "gallina starnazzante"...

[@11kwright]

In all honestly by today's standards, her level of acting just wouldn't cut it whatsoever. It would be classed as "the woman simply can't act"!

[@RedEyed2012]

The idea of acting is for the actor to lose themselves in the role. Any actor who stand out from the role and projects a permanent artifice, like John Wayne playing John Wayne is horrible. But for annoying voice and distracting movements, today, we have redhead Alicia Witt, a genius savant at everything BUT acting. Her constant eye-rolling and general emo response to any situation is as pleasant as a drunk shouting how great beans are after eating them for five days. For honorable mention, we have Katherine Hepburn, who could only "act" if she was clenching her throat and shaking her head, while reading her lines quickly off a cue card, like a scared chihuahua growling. Totally off-putting.