ethanct86 It can't get better than Hamlet. Maybe the most-quoted English piece of all time, Hamlet is a delicate piece that needs to be done right. In his 1948, black and white, Best Picture-winning Hamlet, Olivier delivered an adaptation that hung close to the letter and spirit of the original source, but didn't dare to fly free. It certainly grasped the mood Shakespeare wanted, but it doesn't take filming freedoms where the text allowed. Certainly, he achieved the most freedom from the stage through the cinematography, most noticeably the unique camera movements imitating the sound of a heartbeat that plays when the dead king's ghost is observed in anyway in the story.Hamlet feels more like a filmed version of the play rather than an adaptation. But at that, it is amazing. The dark presence and tragic undertones grow through Olivier's Oscar-winning lead performance and Jean Simmons's crazed Ophelia. As the narrator states in the beginning of film, "This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind." In the play and film, Hamlet is visited by his father's (the former king of Denmark) ghost, stating that his uncle, now the king, had murdered him. However, Hamlet is unsure what action to follow, for if he murders his uncle, it would be repaying evil with evil. Unfortunately, a mistake causes Hamlet to be exiled to England, but he doesn't give up there, and the story builds up to a climatic ending.Like the play itself, Hamlet offers many questions but doesn't give any straightforward answers. The questions dive deep, and along with Shakespeare's old English, younger viewers might not understand. As with the play, an undercurrent topic of incest plays out, mostly through Hamlet's complaints against his uncle taking his father's widow as his wife. Furthermore, the ending is dramatic and sad – with a lot of dead people.Olivier, who has the skill to drop any obscure line of Shakespeare in a beat, manages to work a scarcely worthy adaptation of the play, despite having to cut many monologues and soliloquies in order to run under 160 minutes. One of the weak points of the film is Olivier's recitation of the famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be." To my disappointment, Olivier rushes through it with melancholy and something short of fake that it doesn't have much dramatic and emotional impact. The play did not have any rule or details that restricted it from emotional freedom, especially as a film. Olivier seems to restrict himself to rules that Shakespeare didn't put or intend. But otherwise, Olivier's Hamlet is extraordinary in its own right. He portrays it in the way Shakespeare might have imagined it – the non-extravagant set pieces, simply choreographed and bloodless duels, and few, select locations for different scenes. For the sources and educational material, Olivier's Hamlet is worth watching, but only for the artistic value of the spirit and letter of Shakespeare.

gavin6942 Prince Hamlet (Laurence Olivier) struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king."Hamlet" was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is also the first sound film of the play in English. That seems pretty hard to believe, but it is true. Stranger still, the first sound version was actually in Urdu.Olivier excised the "political" elements of the play (entirely cutting Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) in favor of an intensely psychological performance, partly to save time. Olivier himself stated that "one great whacking cut had to be made", and the cut he chose to make was the omission of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. This was not much criticized at first, but later critics did take more notice of it, especially after shorter productions of Hamlet that did not leave out these characters were presented on television.Olivier also played up the Oedipal overtones of the play by having Hamlet kiss his mother lovingly on the lips several times during the film. Film scholar Jack Jorgens has commented that "Hamlet's scenes with the Queen in her low-cut gowns are virtually love scenes." In contrast, Jean Simmons' Ophelia is destroyed by Hamlet's treatment of her in the nunnery scene.Changes or not, this is the "Hamlet" that all others should be compared to. Whether longer or shorter, political or not, this was the one that broke ground. And for that, it is a valuable contribution to film history.

GusF Of the three Shakespearean plays adapted for the screen by Laurence Olivier, this is the one with which I am the most familiar. It's been quite some time since I've read it or seen it performed but I would guess that Olivier cut a good third, if not more, of the play for this film version. Most significantly, he entirely cut out the major characters of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Fortinbras as well as quite a few minor ones. In spite of this, however, the story retains its general thrust - if not all the specifics - and the film is still magnificent as Olivier once again utterly excels as both an actor and a director. This was the first British or non-American film to win the Best Picture Actor and Olivier became the first actor to win the Best Actor Oscar for a film that he directed himself. The only other person to accomplish this feat was Roberto Benigni in "La vita è bella" 49 years later. Although Olivier was nominated for twelve Oscars (nine for Best Actor, one for Best Supporting Actor and two for Best Picture), this film was the only one for which he won any Academy Award.As the melancholy Dane, Olivier is absolutely wonderful. While the cuts to "Henry V" meant that the title character was shown in a very positive light, he did not hesitate - as either actor or director - here to emphasise his character's less desirable qualities such as his egotistical behaviour and his utter callousness when it comes to unintentionally killing Polonius. And yet Olivier's performance also draws attention to the character's psychological vulnerability after the murder of his father, thus eliciting sympathy. His lust for revenge has cut him off from his emotions, something which is also seen in his brutal rejection of Ophelia. Olivier also plays the ghost of Hamlet's father in the film and does a fantastic job in that role too.Speaking of Ophelia, the 18-year-old Jean Simmons is excellent, playing the role with a remarkable level of subtlety for someone of her age and comparatively limited acting experience. In spite of playing Hamlet's mother Gertrude, Eileen Herlie was almost eleven years younger than Olivier. While she unsurprisingly looks much younger than him, her very strong performance and great voice meant that I forgot this rather odd age gap existed almost as soon as she opened her mouth. Felix Aylmer, who played the Archbishop of Canterbury in "Henry V", has a far larger role in this film as Polonius and was certainly up to the task. He's just fantastic. Basil Sydney isn't as strong as I would have liked as Claudius but he is still very good. However, I don't think that there is anyone in the film who gives a bad performance. Olivier had such a great eye for casting that it's a shame that he directed a mere five films. I wish that an artist - not usually a word that I use when referring to actors - of his calibre had been more prolific behind the camera. Aside from those actors that I have already mentioned, I would like to single out Esmond Knight (who unfortunately has a far smaller role than in "Henry V"), John Laurie, Terence Morgan, Anthony Quayle and Stanley Holloway. In his first British film, Peter Cushing - one of my favourite actors who, like Olivier, played Van Helsing years later - is good in the small supporting role of the foppish Osric but his performance isn't on the same level as most of his later ones. I have to say that I have never paid so much attention to the extras in a film as in this one! This is because three actors who became very well known in later years made uncredited appearances in the film: Christopher Lee, Desmond Llewelyn and Patrick Macnee. In only his third film, Lee makes two "blink and you'll miss them" appearances just before the duel between Hamlet and Laertes. In the first instance, he appears behind his future best friend and frequent on screen nemesis Peter Cushing in what was their first of 24 films together. Llewelyn was far easier to spot as he appears quite prominently in the background of several scenes. He actually has slightly more screen time than the credited Patrick Troughton, who portrays the small but pivotal role of the Player King but doesn't have any lines. While I was on a constant lookout for Lee and Macnee (the film's only two surviving cast members), I didn't manage to spot the future John Steed. Acting aside, the film looks fantastic. In contrast to the vibrant Technicolor of "Henry V", the film was shot in black and white. Apparently, this was done more for financial than artistic reasons but the black and white cinematography adds to the sense of foreboding. The use of deep focus - probably inspired by "Citizen Kane" - is superlative. As with Orson Welles, Olivier demonstrated that he was a master of not one but two crafts in a single film. Incidentally, Olivier had hoped to make "Macbeth" after "Henry V" but the fact that Welles was working on his own version put paid to that idea. "Macbeth" has always been my favourite Shakespearean play so the fact that Olivier never got to make his version of it for the big screen is hugely disappointing, particularly since it was considered one of his best roles - and that's really saying something - and it would have starred his then wife Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth.Overall, the film is a masterpiece in spite of the fact that it cuts significant portions of the play. One of my Top 30 to 35 films of all time.

Tad Pole . . . or is it like they never even existed, akin to James Stewart's "George Bailey" character in the middle portion of IT'S A WOKNDERFUL LIFE? Director\star Laurence Olivier completely edited out the R&G boys (not to mention Fortinbras) from his variation of Shakespeare's play, to give himself more time on-screen. Olivier's HAMLET becomes a pirate fighter (like Captain Bligh); an international hostage (like Richard the Lionheart); a champion fencer (like Errol Flynn), and a take-down tackling avenger from on high (like Spiderman). No doubt Larry thought he was entitled to take any liberties with this story he fancied, conflating himself with the title character, since he'd had his own private version of mad Ophelia (wife Vivien Leigh). Religious faith, on the other hand, is Hamlet Junior's undoing, as he refrains from killing serial poisoner King Claudius in the castle chapel because the latter is mumbling a combination prayer\regicide\incest confession for doing in Hamlet Senior in order to mount the throne and Queen Gertrude himself. Junior abstains from the revenge mandated by Senior's Ghost (who sounds a lot like Laurence Olivier, too) since the younger Hamlet fears this would send the ruthless killer straight to Heaven!! At least Hamlet made up his mind in recommending a nunnery (as mental institutions were referred to back then) for Ophelia. Alas, she drowned herself and got buried in the unhallowed grave of Yorick, a long-dead court jester (Olivier does not repeat the Pope joke that put Yorick into unholy ground 23 years earlier). Though Hamlet offers to eat a crocodile with Ophelia's peeved brother, Laertes, the latter stabs him in the back. After everyone dies, the rest is alleged to be silence by Olivier (though he apparently forgot to mention that to the Motion Picture Academy Oscar voters).