Underplayed Gems

Hamlet (1948)

Hamlet poster
Directed by
Laurence Olivier
Genre
drama film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
2h 30m
Rated
NR
Rating
7.4 of 10 from 294 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A prince of Denmark learns his father was murdered by his uncle who married his mother. He struggles with grief and doubt as he tries to confirm the truth and decide what to do.

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What happens

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. 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." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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