Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20796 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 155 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the opening scene of Hamlet, Laurence Olivier describes the play in a voice-over as "the tragedy of a man who couldn't make up his mind". But Olivier's screen adaptation is considerably more thoughtful and complex than this thesis would suggest. The contradictions and ambiguities of the title character, who prowls cavernous sets filled with vast, ancient corridors and winding staircases, emerge as if from a dream. The plethora of tracking shots--precise enough to impress Stanley Kubrick--encircle Olivier and his tightly constructed geometry of demise. Drawing on his experience playing the Prince on stage at Elsinore in 1937, the legendary thesp provides the film with the patina of greatness and shows how the constitution of the formerly cheerful Prince weakens increasingly under the burden of his own thoughts and inability to accept his mother's o'er-hasty marriage to uncle Claudius (Basil Sydney). Indeed, if emotions could possess ghosts, Olivier's Hamlet shows how they would manifest themselves. There is even a dollop of Freud, suggesting that Queen Gertrude (Eileen Herlie) has perhaps loved her offspring too closely--thus providing the fuel for Hamlet's actions. As Ophelia, Jeans Simmons captures the character's early spirit better than her gradual disintegration (Helena Bonham Carter fares better in Franco Zeffirelli's fine 1990 remake). Purists may bemoan the loss of Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but these choices allow Olivier to focus more squarely on Hamlet's plight. His monologues, many held in secret enclaves, glow with the dramatic markedness of a Dostoevski novel, with all of the master's irony, allusions and witticisms in place. The winner of four Oscars (Best Picture, Actor, Art Direction, and Costumes), this is a Hamlet for the ages. The rest is silence. --Kevin Mulhall

DVD Description

Laurence Olivier delivers one of his greatest Shakespearean performances as the lead role in this 1948 version of Hamlet. Seldom has the tragic story of the Danish Prince, tortured by his duty to his murdered father and by the guilt and fear he feels at the prospect of revenge, been so brilliantly portrayed. Hamlet is an immortal story of murder, intrigue, madness and despair, conveyed through the tragedy of a man who thinks but fails to act. For as long as Shakespeare is performed, this film--which won Academy Awards for Best Film and Best Actor--will stand as a definitive production.

Customer Reviews

Unsurpassed
Olivier's film of Hamlet is not perfect, but it is unlikely to be excelled. No present-day director, of sufficient intellect or skill to match it, would want to try; and there is no living English-speaking actor with the physical presence, voice or mastery of Shakespeare's language to fill the role. Any apparently negative judgements here are made in the context of a standard so far unequalled. There is no point in discussing Olivier's cuts or re-arrangements of the text; his film is an entertainment, not an academic exercise, and anyone who is not a moron will be handsomely entertained. The pace is somewhat sedate, until the cathartic final bloodbath, but the ghost is gripping and effective enough from the start to engage the viewer with the action. There is a strongly Victorian, neo-Gothic feel to the magnificent staging and rich costumes, reinforced by deliberate emulation of Millais' 1852 painting of the drowning Ophelia. The costumes benefit from the black and white photography, avoiding the technicolour garishness which obtrudes in Olivier's later Richard III. Modern viewers may think Hamlet should show a rather more feverish and agitated distraction, but this is not a serious fault. What, then, are the major flaws? First, the introduction ("this is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind"), which is completely unnecessary, off-putting, and almost silly. It should be removed. Second, although the acting of the supporting players (especially Eileen Herlie, and including Jean Simmons, whose touchingly fragile Ophelia has sometimes been disparaged) is generally excellent, Terence Morgan as Laertes is weak and mechanical, particularly in the early scenes. He cuts a spirited figure in the duel, but is otherwise unconvincing. Perhaps his woodenness is partly intentional, since he is suspected of being but "the painting of a sorrow, a face without a heart". Occasionally there is a sense that one or two other actors are also merely reciting the lines, without living them. The third, and most surprising failing, however, is in Olivier's delivery of "to be or not to be", the most famous soliloquy in English literature. This speech is a distillation of Hamlet's three preoccupations: the riddle of life and death, the legitimacy of revenge, and his perplexed sense of sexual frustration and disgust, which underpins the entire play. By treating the passage exclusively as a meditation on suicide, Olivier misses the opportunity of consolidating his fully justified Freudian interpretation of the drama, and virtually throws it away, symbolically dropping his bodkin into the troubled sea. But in spite of these criticisms I can't see any other actor/director bringing a fraction of the concentrated intelligence and stagecraft displayed in this production to the modern screen.

Period Piece
Perhaps the most impressive of Olivier's Shakespeare films. An utterly individual (and disturbing) atmosphere pervades the entire production. Every aspect seems integrated to a single vision and contributes to an experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The brooding sets, William Walton's melancholy music, the black and white film stock and the singularly talented cast coalesce to produce a genuine and characterful period piece.

Of course this is not the only way to do Hamlet. Of course there are cuts and adjustments. But Olivier's vision is effective and his portrayal of the great role is indispensable. Felix Aylmer is a delightfully quirky Polonius and Jean Simmons looks wonderful. The sound and picture quality on DVD is remarkably good for a film made in 1949.

how my love of film began...
This was the first film I was taken to see, at the age of 5. I loved it then, and love it now.
Filmed in Denmark, it's a stylish work of art. The sets and cinematography are fabulous, and it boasts a superb score by Sir William Walton.

The magnificent Olivier gives us the most poetic and melancholy Hamlet on film...the way he uses his eyes in this performance is extraordinary, and very moving. Jean Simmons is a delicate and beautiful Ophelia, I like Eileen Hurlie's Gertrude, and Norman Woodland's graceful Horatio is outstanding.

Though the Zeffirelli/Gibson version is my favourite, and Branagh's ever so long uncut version stunning, this one shouldn't be missed...it's the classic of classics...riveting even for a child of 5 !