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.

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play), Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)

Stars:

Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Riz Abbasi	...	Attendant to Claudius
Richard Attenborough	...	English Ambassador
David Blair	...	Attendant to Claudius
Brian Blessed	...	Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Kenneth Branagh	...	Hamlet
Richard Briers	...	Polonius
Michael Bryant	...	Priest
Peter Bygott	...	Attendant to Claudius
Julie Christie	...	Gertrude
Billy Crystal	...	First Gravedigger
Charles Daish	...	Stage Manager
Judi Dench	...	Hecuba
Gérard Depardieu	...	Reynaldo
Reece Dinsdale	...	Guildenstern
Ken Dodd	...	Yorick

Storyline

Hamlet (Sir Kenneth Branagh), son of the King of Denmark (Brian Blessed), is summoned home for his father's funeral and his mother Gertrude's (Julie Christie's) wedding to his uncle Claudius (Sir Derek Jacobi). In a supernatural episode, he discovers that his uncle, who he hates anyway, murdered his father. In an incredibly convoluted plot, the most complicated and most interesting in all literature, he manages to (impossible to put this in exact order) feign (or perhaps not to feign) madness, murder the "Prime Minister", love and then unlove an innocent who he drives to madness, plot and then unplot against the uncle, direct a play within a play, successfully conspire against the lives of two well-meaning friends, and finally take his revenge on the uncle, but only at the cost of almost every life on-stage, including his own and his mother's.

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Plot Keywords:

shakespeare play | ghost | gertrude character | ophelia character | horatio character | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violent images and sexuality

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

William Shakespeare's Hamlet

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$90,684, 29 December 1996

Gross USA:

$4,708,156

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,770,222

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Turner Pictures (I), Fishmonger Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

242 min 150 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) SDDS (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Like others before him who simultaneously acted in and directed a movie, Sir Kenneth Branagh used an acting double, Orlando Seale, to play Hamlet during camera set-ups and rehearsals. This means Seale had to learn and perform almost the entire play with the entire cast, yet only appears on-screen as an extra, playing the part of a "Boatman".

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Goofs

The snow on Hamlet's boots and Rosencrantz's trousers, plus the cane disappear as they enter the castle.

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Quotes

Hamlet: Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio - a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung these lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?

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Alternate Versions

The shorter, 135 minute version omits the appearances of the English Ambassador (Richard Attenborough), Priam (John Gielgud), Hecuba (Judi Dench), and Reynaldo (Gerard Depardieu).

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Connections

Version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1910)

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Soundtracks

In Pace
Performed by Plácido Domingo
Text researched and adapted by Russell Jackson

User Reviews

Not What I was Expecting...

Still being of school age, and having to learn Shakespeare almost constantly for the last four years (which is very off-putting of any writer, no matter how good), I didn't really expect to enjoy this film when my English teacher put it on; I thought it'd be the typical English lesson movie: bad acting, awfully shot, badly edited and the dreaded awful old dialog, so, as you can tell, I was all but ready to go into a coma from the go. However, I watched and, much to my disturbance, found myself not only paying attention, but actually enjoying the movie too. This production of Hamlet is possibly one of the best drama movies I have seen in a long time- and it really brings to life what I expect Shakespeare wanted his plays to be like (well, with the difference that this is cinema) much better than my English teacher harking over the text ever possibly could. The story is good, the dialog seems to flow with an unexpected grace that is far from boring (though a little hard to keep up with if you aren't used to Shakespeare's language) and even the smallest parts are performed with a skill you wouldn't expect; mainly, perhaps, due to the staggering number of cameos this movie has. Brian Blessed and Charlton Heston are as great as you'd expect these two veterans to be, even in such small parts, but it is Robin Williams as Osric and Billy Crystal as the Gravedigger who really stand out, giving such minor parts an unexpected zest, as well as offering some comic relief amidst the tragedy.

The main stars, of course, are also wonderful. Kenneth Branagh excels as Hamlet, bringing not only the confusion and pain required to the roll, but also a sort of sardonic air which plays beautifully in the comic scenes, making the movie as a whole much more watchable. The other major players are also good, but it is Kenneth Branagh who stands head and shoulders above the rest in the title role.

The set pieces, too, are often quite stunning, giving a refreshing change to the danky old castle corridors we're used to seeing in Shakespeare productions, as well as a real sense of the country around them.

Of course, the movie, taken as a movie in its own right, is not without faults, but no major ones (the pacing is the only real problem I can think of offhand, as well as the prose for anyone not used to, as I said, Shakesperean language) and, especially when compared to the sort of Shakespeare productions I'm used to seeing in class, it really is quite brilliant. It's even made me rethink my previous typical teenager stance on Shakespeare, that his plays are boring (I came to the conclusion it's not the plays that are boring, merely the teachers who recite them in class). If only they made all of his plays into movies such as this one, English students in schools everywhere might have a higher opinion of the Bard.

Overall 7/10