The Winter's Tale is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by Thanhouser Company. The plot is an adaptation of The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and requires fore-knowledge of the plot in order to understand the condensed one reel work. The film focuses on the conflict arising from two Kings, one of Bohemia and one of Sicily, during a meeting. Queen Hermione enrages her jealous husband, Leontes, by entertaining Polixenes. Leontes decides to kill him with poison, but the plan is foiled by the courtier tasked with the assassination. For this, Leontes imprisons his wife. Hermione gives birth to a daughter and Leontes orders the baby to die out in the wilderness. Hermione is then brought before the court and apparently dies after interrogation. Fifteen years pass and Polixenes confronts and then secretly follows his son, appearing as he declares his intention to marry a shepherdess. The two lovers seek protection with Leontes, the King of Sicily. Mourning and repentant for his past actions, Leontes learns the shepherdess is his daughter and blesses the marriage of the lovers. The royal party goes to see a statue of the late queen Hermoine which is revealed to be alive. The cast includes Anna Rosemond, Frank H. Crane and Martin Faust, but the directorial and production credits for the film are unknown. The production was a success for the Thanhouser Company and the film was met with positive reception following its May 27, 1910 release. The film survives in the Library of Congress, but it is missing the final scene of the production. The surviving print suffers from significant deterioration.

Plot

The film is a shortened single reel adaption of the play The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. The film opens with the meeting of the kings of Bohemia and Sicilia. Hermione, the queen of Sicilia, entertains Polixenes, king of Bohemia. This arouses jealousy in Leontes, the king of Sicilia. Leontes decides to poison Polixenes and orders a courtier to carry out the task. The courtier slips the poison into the cup, but he changes his mind and confesses to the murderous plot. Polixenes and the courtier depart safely, but this enrages the Leontes, who has his wife imprisoned. In prison, Hermione gives birth to a daughter and sends it to her husband, hoping to quell his anger. This further upsets Leontes and he orders the child to be taken out to the wilderness to die. Hermione is then brought before a tribunal, swoons, and is pronounced dead by Paulina.