Hamlet (1996 movie) - Definition and Overview

Hamlet is a 1996 film version of William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, adapted and directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also starred in the title role. Derek Jacobi and Julie Christie were King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, and Kate Winslet was Ophelia.

It is notable for being the first unabridged screen version of the play, running for slightly over four hours. (A shorter edit, approximately two-and-a-half hours long, was shown in some markets.)

The setting of the movie was less faithful, with 18th or 19th century costuming and furnishings (Blenheim Palace, built in the early 18th century, became Elsinore Castle in the external scenes).

The film is very visual; most of the play's many monologues and soliloquies are accompanied by silent flashbacks or dream sequences depicting the events being spoken of. (Hamlet's famous reminiscence of the jester Yorick, for instance, is accompanied by a flashback depicting the man himself performing for the child Hamlet.)

Another notable aspect of the film was the large number of celebrity cameos; seemingly no role was too small to be played by a star (Gerard Depardieu's turn as the servant Reynaldo, who appears only briefly in a single scene and is invariably left out of shorter versions of the play, is a case in point). Some of these cameos make a sort of sense (Billy Crystal as a comic-relief gravedigger), while others seem pointless and inappropriate (Jack Lemmon as a palace guard with a jarring American accent). The flashbacks and dream sequences even allow for celebrities appearing as characters that usually don't appear in the play at all, including John Gielgud and Judi Dench as Priam and Hecuba (mentioned in the monologue performed by the First Player on his arrival at Elsinore) and Ken Dodd as the aforementioned Yorick. Other notable cameos include Charlton Heston as the First Player/Player King, Robin Williams as the courtier Osric, and Richard Attenborough as the English Ambassador.

See also: Hamlet (the Shakespearean play and the many subsequent movies)

External link

• Hamlet (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116477/) at the Internet Movie Database