Movie Stats:
Released 1948 (UK)
British, in English
Director – Laurence Olivier
Stars – Laurence Olivier, Basil Sydney, and Eileen Herlie
Plot Summary:
Danish prince Hamlet’s (Olivier) father, the King, dies
suddenly. After his uncle Claudius (Sydney) seizes the throne and marries
Hamlet’s mother Gertrude (Herlie), Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father,
who reveals that his death was the result of murder. Hamlet seeks his revenge,
destroying pretty much everyone in the process.
Bad Stuff:
I don’t like this story. I never have. I’ve read the play,
and I’ve seen several film adaptations. That doesn’t change the fact that I
still don’t like it. I much prefer Shakespeare’s comedies to his tragedies, but
this is probably my least favorite of his tragedies. I just think the story
doesn’t make a whole lot of sense; I never understood why Hamlet had to destroy
everything just to get back at the murderers. Perhaps, dear reader, if you have
some insight into this, you can share it with me.
My least favorite part of Hamlet, by far, is Ophelia’s story
line (If Hamlet loves her so much, why is he such an a-hole to her?). I thought
it was handled atrociously in this film, and Jean Simmons was absolutely awful
in the part. I was thrilled when the character [SPOILER] finally died so I
didn’t have to listen to Simmons’s screeching any longer.
Good Stuff:
I liked the costumes, although I suspect they weren’t
exactly historically accurate. I also liked the sets.
The special effects were surprisingly good, especially the
ghost of Hamlet’s father, which was very creepy.
Olivier was great as Hamlet, although he was too old for the
part, which I found distracting. Even more distracting was that the actress who
played his mother was ten years younger than him, and it was definitely
noticeable.
The Verdict:
It’s difficult to judge a movie that’s based upon a play I
don’t like. It’s not an original screenplay, so it’s not exactly the movie’s
fault that I don’t like it. I thought it did a decent enough job with the
material. If it came down to it, I’d rather watch this movie again than all of
the Best Picture winners I’ve rated in the 1s and 2s.
2 comments:
I had this from the library for awhile. But I watched the Kenneth B. version and the Ethan Hawke version plus we saw it twice live within a few months and I figured four times was enough for one year. Plus it looked rather long and ponderous.
One of the insights from one of the productions we watched (Portland Actor's Ensemble's Shakespeare in the Park) was that Hamlet's father would have been able to carry out revenge in two seconds, but Hamlet is a bit of a bumbler and though he tries to avenge his father's death he just can't get it together. That production also pointed out that the first part is quite funny and encouraged us to laugh. It was a very different experience than the other three versions.
I completely agree with you about the Ophelia plot. It's like elementary-aged "I like you so I will be mean to you" times 1000.
Yeah, I can't say that I ever got the sense that "Hamlet" was intended to be funny. Of course, our sense of what's funny and what isn't has changed a lot in the last 500 years or so. That's an interesting insight about Hamlet being a bumbler though. That makes a lot of the movie make so much more sense.
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