Hamlet

HAMLET (U)
D: Laurence Olivier
Rank / Two Cities (Laurence Olivier)
UK 🇬🇧 1948
155 mins

Drama

W: Laurence Olivier [based on the play by William Shakespeare]
DP: Desmond Dickinson
Ed: Helga Cranston
Mus: William Walton
PD: Roger K. Furse & Carmen Dillon
Cos: Roger K. Furse & Elizabeth Hennings

Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, Prince of Denmark), Basil Sydney (Claudius), Eileen Herlie (Gertrude), Norman Wooland (Horatio), Felix Aylmer (Polonius), Jean Simmons (Ophelia)

More an abridgement than an adaptation, Laurence Olivier’s 1948 production of Hamlet, in which he directed & produced as well as portraying the title character shortens the source material by approximately two hours to bring William Shakespeare’s work to the silver screen for the first time.
Purists may be enraged that changes were made & characters were dropped for a more audience-friendly running time, but I understand Olivier’s reasons for doing so, especially since this was a British production without any influence from Hollywood & its megabucks.
The story is as old as time, and should be familiar to millions. A Danish prince believes that his father was murdered, especially since his mother has remarried and a new king sits upon the throne. This belief grows even greater when Hamlet is visited by a ghost that proclaims it so, and he must avenge his father’s death by outing the truth.
Laurence Olivier delivers an impeccable performance in a role that he was simply born to play, and the rest of the ensemble are also perfectly cast.
While it is a solid, if shortened, adaptation of the Bard’s work, it is nowhere near cinematic masterpiece levels, as much does feel quite stage-bound and a little stolid in places, despite the fine performances.
7/10