IMDb > Hamlet (1996)
Hamlet
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Hamlet (1996) -- Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Hamlet (1996) -- MovieMaze.de - Trailer (Quicktime)

Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   17,792 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 2% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
William Shakespeare (play)
Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Hamlet on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 December 1996 (USA) more
Plot:
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 11 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Bww TV: Video Show Preview - Broadway's Hamlet
 (From BroadwayWorld.com. 8 October 2009, 2:48 PM, PDT)

Twilight director to Helm Red Riding Hood Movie
 (From ReelzChannel. 21 August 2009, 7:06 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Two Palettes: Film and Mind more (195 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (USA) (complete title)
more
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for some violent images and sexuality.
Runtime:
242 min | 150 min (cut version)
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) | SDDS (35 mm prints)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Star/Director Kenneth Branagh first encountered the 'full length' version of the play while performing in the 1992 BBC Radio production of the play with co-stars Derek Jacobi and Richard Briers (who would reprise their roles as Claudius and Polonius respectively in the film). This radio performance anticipated the winter 1992 full text production of Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare company - the one that would finally crystallize Branagh's interpretation of the character and lead to the film. more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: Light stand visible in the mirror just before and during a soliloquy. more
Quotes:
Hamlet: Whose grave is this sir?
First Gravedigger: Mine sir.
[Resumes singing his ditty]
Hamlet: [Interrupts] I think it be thine indeed, for thou liest in't.
First Gravedigger: You lie out on't sir, and therefore it is not yours. For my part I do not lie ins't and yet it is mine.
Hamlet: Thou dost lie in't to be in't, and say 'tis thine. 'Tis for the dead not for the quick, therefore thou liest.
First Gravedigger: 'Tis a quick lie, sir. Toil away from me to you.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Shakespeare in Love and on Film (1999) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
In Pace more

FAQ

Why Hamlet treat his mother and Ophelia badly?
Did Hamlet really love Ophelia?
Is it true that Hamlet faked his madness?
more
52 out of 69 people found the following comment useful.
Two Palettes: Film and Mind, 25 May 2000
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

As a play, Hamlet is an anchor of civilization, and even moderately successful films are worth seeing. But in making the translation to film, the artist has two challenges.

The first concerns the work as drama. This is Shakespeare's most ambitious vision, one he tinkered with and enlarged both conceptually and literally. The purest choice, the only choice which can encompass the full weave of the work, is to include everything -- and that's what Branagh has done. Consequently, this work has extra dimensions of life. In doing so, he's included some nice touches:

--gone are superficial hints of mother-lust in the closet scene. These were never in the text.

--we are reminded that Hamlet's initial and sustaining anger is because his uncle jumped into the line of succession

--we see the hints that Hamlet was a student of Bruno in the book on witchcraft he consults after seeing the ghost. Also his book on `matters' (often thought to be Bruno's) is actually given to Ophelia. Nice. Shows deep research.

--Polonius is treated humanely, as more than a dottering fool. This makes Ophelia's loss (and earlier obedience) believable.

The second challenge is cinematic. The play was written for sparse settings; it translates naturally to audio tape and unnaturally to film. So the filmmaker has an open palette. Branagh makes some interesting choices. Many work extremely well, in particular the mirrors in the `to be' and Ophelia sequence. Others are strange:

--he introduces recognizable actors in secondary roles to jar us into the realization that this is a play. (One of these is really funny. How do you portray an actor among actors playing non-actors. Well, you get a noticeably BAD actor. I wonder if Heston knows he'll be goofed on for this for many decades as this film outlives his sandled perorations.)

--he introduces some almost satirical film reflections: a cheesy ghost, an Errol Flynn chandelier swing...

--he provides visual overlays for some of the images implied in the text: Hamlet's lovemaking, considerations in Norway, reflections of the players. This ruins a few of the important ambiguities but we do have a wealth to spend after all.

--in perhaps the worst loss of ambiguity, he makes Fortinbras an invader. This is done only to allow for some cinematic sweep at the end. Okay, I'll reluctantly buy it since the alternative is extended mugging in the death scenes.

I think Branagh and collaborators meet the first challenge nearly perfectly. As to the second challenge, this is our very best film version, in part because of extending the US tradition of playing the characters as real people (versus the UK tradition of characters as speechifiers). So far as the cinematic challenge, there are some great, really great visions here, but there are also some big cinematic misses which keeps this far from perfect. Until Greenaway attempts it, this is the best film Hamlet we have, and that simply makes it one of the best, most rewarding films ever. I'll bet Branagh tries again before he dies.

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Reading or Watching MrEric87
100 Things You Learned From Hamlet hockeyrocknrolldude
My favorite film adaptation of a Shakepeare play ever... kitkat8541
'Get thee to a nunnery' simonasmith-1
Derek Jacobi sankoff
'To Be Or Not To Be' Luanna255
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