Hamlet (1948 film)
| Hamlet | |
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theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Laurence Olivier |
| Produced by | Laurence Olivier |
| Screenplay by | Laurence Olivier (uncredited) |
| Based on |
Hamlet (play) by William Shakespeare |
| Starring | Laurence Olivier |
| Music by | William Walton |
| Cinematography | Desmond Dickinson |
| Edited by | Helga Cranston |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Rank Film Distributors Ltd. (UK) Universal-International (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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155 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £527,530 |
| Box office | $3,250,000 (US rentals) |
Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, adapted and directed by and starring Sir Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed (the 1936 As You Like It had starred Olivier, but had been directed by Paul Czinner). 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. A 1935 sound film adaptation, Khoon Ka Khoon, had been made in India and filmed in the Urdu language.
Olivier's Hamlet is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. However, it proved controversial among Shakespearean purists, who felt that Olivier had made too many alterations and excisions to the four-hour play by cutting nearly two hours' worth of content. Milton Shulman wrote in The Evening Standard "To some it will be one of the greatest films ever made, to others a deep disappointment. Laurence Olivier leaves no doubt that he is one of our greatest living actors...his liberties with the text, however, are sure to disturb many."
The film follows the overall story of the play, but cuts nearly half the dialogue and leaves out two major characters.
The action begins on the battlements of Elsinore where a sentry, Francisco (John Laurie), is relieved of his watch (and questioned if he has seen anything) by another sentry, Bernardo (Esmond Knight), who, with yet another sentry, Marcellus (Anthony Quayle), has twice previously seen the Ghost of King Hamlet. Marcellus then arrives with the sceptical Horatio (Norman Wooland), Prince Hamlet's friend. Suddenly, all three see the Ghost, and Horatio demands that the ghost speak. The ghost vanishes then, without a word.
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Wikipedia