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Hamlet (1948) - Adapted and Directed by Laurence Olivier Please consider subscribing to our channel for More Insights: CAST Hamlet - OLIVIER, Laurence Gertrude - HERLIE, Eileen Claudius - SYDNEY, Basil Ophelia - SIMMONS, Jean Polonius - AYLMER, Felix Horatio - WOOLAND, Norman Laertes - MORGAN, Terence Gravedigger - HOLLOWAY, Stanley Osric - CUSHING, Peter Bernardo - KNIGHT, Esmond Marcellus - QUAYLE, Anthony First Player - WILLIAMS, Harcourt Francisco - LAURIE, John Sea Captain - MacGINNIS, Niall Player King - TROUGHTON, Patrick Player Queen - TARVER, Tony Priest - THORNDIKE, Russell Laurence Olivier's Hamlet was made four years after his rousingly patriotic Henry V (1944), and is a very different proposition. Unsurprisingly, given the tone and content of the play, the overall mood is that of brooding introspection - tellingly, in a phrase not in Shakespeare's original, Olivier opens by telling us that it is “the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind“, foregrounding the film's central theme, a neat metaphor for the uncertainty of the immediate postwar years. He also largely eliminates the play's political intrigue: Fortinbras is banished, and so too are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - the three characters most indelibly associated with the world outside Elsinore. These cuts focus attention on the play's central theme: the relationship between Hamlet, his lover Ophelia, mother Gertrude and stepfather Claudius. Olivier was forty when he played the part, old by Hamlet standards, but a side-effect of this is to intensify the latent eroticism of the scenes with his mother, most notably following Polonius' murder, but also at the climax, when it's made clear that she knowingly drinks the poison to kill herself. Stylistically, Hamlet is quite different from Henry V. Shot in high-contrast black and white, it's not quite as overtly Expressionist as, for instance, Orson Welles' Macbeth (also 1948), but it's certainly a similarly claustrophobic, stifling experience, with none of the opening-out of its predecessor, or any continuation of Olivier's explorations of the contrast between film and theatrical performance. Although almost entirely filmed in the studio (the major exception being Ophelia's drowning, inspired by Millais' Pre-Raphaelite painting), the crane-mounted camera is constantly on the move, constantly shifting our perception of the characters' relationship with each other in a way that would be impossible with a stage production. The following year Hamlet became not just the first British but the first non-American film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, along with Best Actor (Olivier), Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. This recording is for educational purposes only and is covered under Fair Use doctrine - Copyright - All rights reserved to their respective owners. Read the unabridged plays online: _______________________________ Screen Adaptation - Co-Production : MISANTHROPOS – Official Website - Adapted by Maximianno Cobra, from Shakespeare's “Timon of Athens“, the film exposes the timeless challenge of social hypocrisy, disillusion and annihilation against the poetics of friendship, love, and beauty. _______________________________ FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN - DONATIONS - Shakespeare Network Website and YouTube Channel: Donate with PayPal or GoFundMe today: Why Donate? Please consider giving a donation today to support our HD AUDIO / IMAGE Restoration Program. The main objective of enhancing historical image and sound recordings by digital signal processing is to improve the overall quality of recordings degraded by several distortions. Whether true signal restoration or merely signal enhancement can be achieved depends heavily on the quality of the historical image and sound material. Image and audio restoration is an extremely time-consuming process that requires skilled audio and image engineers with specific experience in motion pictures, sound and music recording techniques as well as high-end hardware and software. Donations to Shakespeare Network help sustain free knowledge and educational programs on Shakespeare Network and our ecosystem of Shakespeare Network projects. Your contributions ensure these resources remain accessible and valuable for all. Thank you. Contact us for further info.
