Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. It was adapted, directed by and starring Laurence Olivier and was his second film as director, as well as the second of the three Shakespeare films 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.Robertson, Patrick. The Guinness Book of Almost Everything You Didn't Need to Know About the Movies. Great Britain: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., Enfield, Middlesex, 1986. , p. 40 It is also the first sound film of the play in English. Olivier's Hamlet is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor (for Olivier) and the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice International 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 one-and-a-half-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."Tanitch, Robert. (1985) Olivier. Abbeville Press.
Plot
On the battlements of Elsinore, in a flash-forward, the dead body of Hamlet is borne in state upon the shoulders of noble lords with Horatio in attendance mourning the dead Hamlet. The flash-forward dissolves and in the same location at a separate time, Francisco, a sentry, is relieved of his watch by another sentry, Bernardo, who, with yet another sentry, Marcellus, has twice previously seen the Ghost of King Hamlet. Marcellus then arrives with the sceptical Horatio, Prince Hamlet's friend. Suddenly, all three see the Ghost, and Horatio demands that the Ghost speak. The Ghost vanishes then, without a word.
Inside the Great Hall of the castle, the court is celebrating the marriage of Gertrude and King Claudius; old King Hamlet has died apparently of an accidental snakebite, and his wife, Gertrude, has, within a month of the tragedy, married the late King's brother. Prince Hamlet sits alone, refusing to join in the celebration, despite the protests of the new King. When the court has left the Great Hall, Hamlet fumes over the hasty marriage, muttering to himself the words "and yet, within a month!"
Soon, Horatio and the sentries enter telling Hamlet of the ghostly apparition of his father. Hamlet proceeds to investigate, and upon arriving on the battlements, sees the Ghost. Noting that the Ghost beckons him forward, Hamlet follows it up onto a tower, wherein it reveals its identity as the Ghost of Hamlet's father. He tells Hamlet that he was murdered, who did it, and how it was done. Claudius poured poison into the late King Hamlet's ear, thereby killing him. Hamlet does not at first accept this as the truth, and then prepares to feign madness, so as to test Claudius' conscience, without jumping to conclusions.
This feigned insanity attracts the attention of Polonius who is completely convinced that Hamlet has gone mad. Polonius pushes this point with the King, claiming that it is derived from Hamlet's love for Ophelia, Polonius's daughter. Claudius, however, is not fully convinced, and has Polonius set up a meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet's "madness" is constant even in this exchange, and Claudius is convinced.
Hamlet then hires a group of wandering stage performers, requesting that they enact the play The Murder of Gonzago for the king. However, Hamlet makes a few alterations to the play, so as to make it mirror the circumstances of the late King's murder. Claudius, unable to endure the play, calls out for light, and retires to his room. Hamlet is now convinced of Claudius' treachery. He finds Claudius alone, and has ample opportunity to kill the villain. However, at this time, Claudius is praying, and Hamlet does not seek to send him to heaven, so, he waits, and bides his time.
He instead confronts Gertrude about the matter of his father's death and Claudius' treachery. During this confrontation, he hears a voice from the arras, and, believing that it was Claudius eavesdropping, plunges his dagger into the curtains. On discovering that he has in fact, killed the eavesdropping Polonius instead, Hamlet is only mildly upset, and he continues to confront his mother. He then sees the ghostly apparition of his father, and proceeds to converse with it. Gertrude, who cannot see the Ghost, becomes convinced that Hamlet is mad.
Hamlet is deported to England by Claudius, who has given orders for him to be killed once he reaches there. Fortunately, Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates, and he is returned to Denmark. In his absence, however, Ophelia goes mad over Hamlet's rejection and the idea that her own sweetheart has killed her father, and she drowns, supposedly committing suicide. Laertes, Ophelia's brother, is driven to avenge her death, as well as his father's.
Claudius and Laertes learn of Hamlet's return and prepare to have him killed. However, they plan to make it look like an accident. Claudius orders Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a duel, wherein Laertes will be given a poisoned blade that will kill with a bare touch. In case Laertes is unable to hit Hamlet, Claudius also prepares a poisoned drink.
Hamlet meets Laertes' challenge and engages him in a duel. Hamlet wins the first two rounds, and Gertrude drinks from the cup, unaware that it is poisoned. Whilst in-between bouts, Laertes rushes Hamlet and strikes him on the arm, fatally poisoning him. Hamlet, not knowing this, continues to duel. Hamlet eventually disarms Laertes and switches blades with him. Hamlet then strikes Laertes in the wrist, fatally wounding him. Gertrude then submits to the poison and dies, warning Hamlet not to drink from the cup.
Laertes, dying, confesses the whole plot to Hamlet, who flies at Claudius in a fit of rage, fatally stabbing and slashing him, then dies himself. Horatio, horrified by all this, orders that Hamlet be given a decent funeral, and the young prince's body is taken away while the Danish court kneels and the cannons of Elsinore fire off a peal of ordnance in respect.
Cast
The Royal Court of Denmark Basil Sydney as King Claudius. Claudius is the brother, and murderer, of the late King Hamlet, and he marries his brother's widow only two months after the King's death. An English actor, Sydney had a long and prolific career on both stage and screen. In 1923, at the age of 29, he played Hamlet in a modern-dress stage production. He subsequently appeared with Olivier in The Devil's Disciple. Eileen Herlie as Queen Gertrude. Gertrude, now married to Claudius, does not suspect foul play, and she fears for the sanity of her son. A Scottish-American actress, Herlie was born in Scotland and worked in the UK on film and stage productions until the mid-1950s, when she moved permanently to the U.S., where she worked mainly on stage and TV. (Her role as Gertrude was secured by arrangement with Sir Alexander Korda, to whom she was under contract.) She had previously played Gertrude on stage in 1945 to the Hamlet of Peter Glenville. She would repeat the part in the 1964 Broadway production starring Richard Burton as Hamlet. Laurence Olivier as Prince Hamlet. Hamlet is the conflicted son of the late King, who is now suspicious of his father's death. Olivier, considered by many to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, had played this role twice on stage in 1937, at The Old Vic theatre and later at Elsinore Castle, the actual setting of the play. His 1948 film performance of the role was the only one of his to win him an Academy Award for Best Actor, despite three prior nominations, and five subsequent ones. Olivier, however, did receive several Honorary Oscars, the first in 1947 for Henry V. Norman Wooland as Horatio, his friend. Horatio is Hamlet's level-headed fellow student from the University of Wittenberg. Wooland was an English actor, born in Germany, who subsequently had a long career in British and international films. He later played another companion to Olivier's character in Richard III. Felix Aylmer as Polonius, Lord Chamberlain. Polonius is suspicious of Hamlet, and he is convinced that Hamlet's supposed insanity stems from the young prince's love for his daughter, Ophelia. Aylmer was an actor and author who had a long career on stage and screen. He was a long-serving President of the actors' union Equity and a champion of screen acting, which he felt was undervalued. He had previously worked with Olivier on his Henry V as well as on As You Like It, which starred Olivier. Terence Morgan as Laertes, his Son. Laertes arrives in Denmark to discover his father killed by Hamlet, and Ophelia, his sister, first driven mad and then to her own death. He vows vengeance against Hamlet. Morgan was an English actor, who was discovered by Olivier in 1945 at the age of 23 and joined The Old Vic company in 1948. He had a prolific career as one of the most highly-paid stars of British films throughout the 1950s. Jean Simmons as Ophelia. Ophelia is driven mad by her father Polonius' death, as well as by Hamlet's rejection. Simmons' performance in this film earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 1949 Oscars. An English actress, she had a subsequent career as a major Hollywood star. She appeared with Olivier again in Spartacus. King Hamlet. Hamlet's father, Claudius' older brother, and Gertrude's first husband, who appears in Shakespeare's play as the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. This character has no screen credit. The part was playedBarker, Felix (1953) The Oliviers ("...the actor playing the ghost [was] Olivier himself..." p259)- and voicedTrewin, J.C. (1987) Five & Eighty Hamlets ("Collectors noted that the voice of the Ghost was Olivier's own.") – by Laurence Olivier himself. Olivier is recognisable as the king in the flashback sequence showing the sleeping King Hamlet being poisoned by his brother Claudius. Where Hamlet and the Ghost appear together in the same shot an unidentified stand-in plays the Ghost.
Men at Arms John Laurie as Francisco. Francisco is a weary sentry, who is relieved by Bernardo at the beginning of the film. A Scottish actor, Laurie appeared in all three Olivier-directed Shakespeare films, as well as the 1936 film As You Like It, which starred Olivier. Esmond Knight as Bernardo [sometimes spelled Barnardo]. Bernardo is a sentry who is sent to relieve Francisco and sees the apparition of King Hamlet. He and Marcellus have seen it twice before, but they've found it difficult to convince Horatio until he sees it himself. A Welsh actor, Knight appeared in all three of Olivier's Shakespeare films, as well as Olivier's The Prince and the Showgirl. Anthony Quayle as Marcellus. Marcellus is another sentry. He and Bernardo have already seen the Ghost twice before and see it again. (Quayle is replaced in certain shots by another, uncredited, performer.) An English actor and stage director, Quayle spent several years as artistic director of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. He became a star of British cinema from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. [All of the above characters reappear at the end of the film, where they are three of the 'four captains' who 'bear Hamlet's body, like a soldier, to the stage'. They are accompanied by a fourth, unidentified, soldier and by Horatio.]