Sarah Bernhardt in the Theatre of Films and Sound Recordings [Hardcover]

Author David W. Menefee obviously has taken tremendous care with this finely-crafted book. I am so grateful that McFarland decided to publish it. Each chapter is filled with intriguing information about Sarah Bernhardt's motion pictures and sound recordings, and it also includes a biographical treatment that is short, informative, and accurate. This beginning to the book explains why Sarah was such an important figure in our theater history, and why her work in the new mediums of motion pictures and sound recordings served as a catalyst to galvanize the growth of these new industries. In this book, there are hundreds of rare photographs, including many from her motion pictures that I could never have afforded to buy even if they could be located. I particularly loved the touching account of Sarah's final work on a film that was made while she was literally dying. Her story is genuinely inspiring. To have all this included in one book makes it a delightful compilation of information and images that I treasure.

This book shows great research. I greatly enjoyed reading the biographical part at the beginning, and I found the filmography most informative. The section on Bernhardt's recordings was unique, and the translations of those recordings are wonderful, poetic, and moving. As if all this wasn't enough, the book nearly bursts with hundreds of rare photographs and illustrations, obviously the result of a great deal of time spent on research. My hat's off to the author for an excellent work that adds much to the body of knowledge about Sarah Bernhardt.

I love this book. David Menefee's research is incredible. All of Sarah Bernhardt's biographers only touched on her films and sound recordings, if they mention them at all, and so this book fills a much-needed niche about the work of this great artist. Not only has he drawn from hundreds of rare sources for information, but his discovery of Daniel, one of Sarah's previously unknown films, is nothing short of a miracle. That film is profiled with never-before-seen screen shots and a detailed synopsis. All of her other films are richly researched and include fascinating production notes, plot synopses, rare photographs, and reviews from every film magazine that is known to have survived. The touching account of the making of Sarah's final performance in a film is quite moving. The information in the chapters on her sound recordings came from many rare sources, including the Thomas Edison Museum. The book even includes the first-ever French/English translations of all of her existing recorded dramatic recitations, which were done by Professor Alissa Webel from Georgetown University. The rest of the book is overfilled with hundreds of rare photographs, many of which have not been in circulation for more than eighty years. The pictures alone are enough of a reason to get this book, but there is so much more in it that I found it to be a magnificent compilation that reveals everything about Sarah Bernhardt's work in films and on sound recordings. I highly recommend it.