Hamlet play
Gibson’s Hamlet is angry, wounded, and fearful, and he brings off the role well. Mel Gibson: Hamlet 1990.Ī “Mad Max” Hamlet is a piece of stunt casting, but Gibson climbs into the middle of the list by exceeding expectations. My longer review of Cumberbatch’s Hamlet is here. Some clunker performances among the supporting cast and staging a bit heavy on gimmicky spectacle also knock this version down the list. This makes Cumberbatch the most appealing and engaging Hamlet on my list, but it also robs his Hamlet of the philosophical transformation that powers the last third of the play, leaving the end feeling rushed and flat. Benedict Cumberbatch: Hamlet 2015.Ĭumberbatch’s superb Hamlet is marred by the choice of making his Danish prince entirely sane and pretty well adjusted. This version is filmed like the stodgy stage play it is with the occasional rough close-up, for which none of the actors except Jacobi seem prepared. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast is uneven and in some scenes, dull. Jacobi’s voice has an extraordinary range of emotional colors, and his acting is often supple and subtle. Derek Jacobi: Hamlet 1980.ĭerek Jacobi plays Hamlet as amazed by his weakness, rather than desperate for strength, and is one of the few Danish Princes who feels like he could actually be the son of a warrior king. And Olivier’s ditzy, hysterical Ophelia – played by Jean Simmons – not only offends contemporary tastes, but also begs the question, “What does Hamlet see in her?” IMDb page 4. The way his camera stalks the corridors of dark, Freudian Elsinore castle hasn’t aged particularly well. (Could an always-hesitating Hamlet improvise the murder of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern or jump into the middle of a battle with pirates?) Olivier edits the text so heavily that the story is unintelligible unless you know it. Olivier is the better actor, and gives a better performance, but his concentration on Hamlet’s indecision makes less sense than Branagh’s choices. The ghost scene in 1.5 is unwatchable, and Branagh stages the climactic duel in action-movie land. Some of Branagh’s directing is very fine (the two-way mirror in “To be, or not to be”) and some of it is not. Branagh films the whole text, and so includes the essential framing character of Fortinbras and allows us to fully see how Laertes and Ophelia together serve as a double for Hamlet. This choice creates a satisfying Hamlet and turns Branagh’s conspicuous habit of overacting into a virtue. Kenneth Branagh: Hamlet 1996.īranagh’s performance swings wildly between Hamlet’s famous indecision and the Danish prince’s other signature (but often overlooked) characteristic: his recklessness. And all this outweighs the serious limitations director John Gielgud faced filming a live performance in a Broadway theater as well as some less than stellar acting in the other roles. The sheer physical stamina of Burton’s work is impressive. When he is funny, Burton is funny without the viciousness or condescension you often see in other performances. His transitions from line to line and emotion to emotion feel like the natural consequence of the previous idea and feeling. Burton plays all of Hamlet’s emotions with extraordinary conviction: grief, fear, doubt, anger, indifference, easy acceptance. Richard Burton wins the title “best Hamlet” with the range, insight, and power of his acting in this filmed stage production.
Pasternak).Which is the best Hamlet movie? Here are my assessments of the film adaptations of Hamlet I’ve seen ranked in order of personal preference. The image of Hamlet has often attracted artists (Delacroix), composers (Tchaikovsky), and poets (A. In Hamlet, Soviet Shakespearean scholars and the Soviet theater have discovered the tragedy of a humanist’s lost illusions in the face of victorious evil. Turgenev emphasized Hamlet’s inclination to self-analysis and his skepticism. In the speech “Hamlet and Don Quixote” (1860) I. Belinskii, on the other hand, viewed Hamlet as a passionate exposer of evil, strong even in his ruin.
Schlegel), the image of Hamlet became a negative designation (Hamletism) for such characteristics as disillusionment, pessimism, and bitter reflections on the contradictory nature of existence. In the interpretation of the German romantics (A. von Goethe saw in Hamlet a man of thought, not action, who lacked the strength to meet the task of revenge forced upon him. Shakespeare portrayed Hamlet as a reflective person who doubted traditional attitudes. The hero of the tragedy of the same name by Shakespeare (1601 published, 1603).