Shakespeare in Performance: Film

Hamlet (1947, Laurence Olivier)

Description

This famous version of Hamlet grew out of long meditation by the producer, director and star player, Laurence Olivier. As early as 1937, when he played Orlando against Elisabeth Bergner's Rosalind in the 1936 film of As You Like It, he had been thinking of making a film of Hamlet. The success of his 1944 Henry V encouraged the J. Arthur Rank organization to grant Olivier complete artistic control over the production of this film. Transforming a four-and-a-half hour play into a two-and-a-half hour movie required drastic cutting of the Quarto and Folio texts. To the dismay of many purists, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern entirely disappeared, and other major textual alterations and amputations occurred. Perhaps most controversial (resulting in Peter Alexander's book, Hamlet, Father and Son) were the words in the film's prologue that seemed to reduce the play to a tale of a "man who could not make up his mind." Visually, however, Olivier boldly moved toward a black-and-white film. To him Hamlet was an 'engraving' not an 'oil painting.' And the prying and moving camera, with the deep focus, also became integral in this famous movie

Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14

Cast Overview

Production Team and Crew Overview

Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell