Hamlet (1948)
Director: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Laurence Olivier
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Art Direction (Black and White)
Academy Award for Best Costume Design
Golden Globe for Best Actor
Laurence Olivier returns to the the duties of
actor/director/producer for his second Shakespearean motion picture adaption, his
praised masterpiece work of Hamlet.
For what would be surprisingly the first English language sound adaption of the
famed Shakespearean tragedy, the feature film swept through the cinematic word
with great commendation, becoming the most highly thought of adaptation of the numerous versions to be seen in the
decades since. It is also met its fair share of critics, primarily from the
scholars of the famous source material, chastising Olivier’s alterations needed,
as he saw it, to package the story into a consumable motion picture. Despite the
material and its star already being amongst the most well know in their fields,
this motion picture would somehow cement further the legacies of both, topping
its achievements off with being the first international film to win the
greatest prize at the Academy Awards.
Hamlet is Laurence
Olivier’s adaption of the Shakespeare tragedy about a Danish prince’s struggles
to avenge his father’s death at the hands of his uncle to gain the monarchy. In
the kingdom of Denmark Claudius (Basil Sydney) assumes the throne merely a
month after the death of his brother, the king, by marrying the queen, Gertrude
(Eileen Herlie). The melancholy prince, Hamlet (Olivier), is visited by the apparition
of his father revealing his death came at the hands of Claudius by way of
poison, setting Hamlet on a task to exact his revenge on his uncle. Hamlet
becomes psychologically more disturbed as he ponders the correct time of his
retribution, producing many around him to consider he has gone mad, while
Hamlet hints he knows the truth about his uncle. His vengeful road affects the
many around him, taking the lives of several, including his former love Ophelia
(Jean Simmons). 
Hamlet and Claudius’ unspoken contention comes to a head within
the duel between Hamlet and Ophelia’s brother Laertes (Terence Morgan) who
seeks revenge for Hamlet in his roles with the deaths of his loved father and
sister, who was driven to suicide because of Hamlet’s actions. Laertes and
Claudius’ plot to poison Hamlet becomes their undoing as the guilt stricken
Gertrude sacrifices herself for her son, while Laertes, after a lethal strike
from Hamlet, confesses Claudius’s guilt. Hamlet finally publicly justified for
his vengeance kills his uncle moments before succumbing to his own mortal wound,
closing with honored funeral of the fallen prince.
As a motion picture, Hamlet
is a marvelous work of classic Shakespearean style that many would envision as
the quintessential mix of design, presentation, and acting of any Shakespearean
work. Olivier’s performance demands the attention of the screen with every
moment presence, even when he is the focal point of the frame. Olivier chooses
to center his adaption on Hamlet and his relationships with the other
characters when trimming back the original story, making this picture very
Olivier-centric.
The black and white cinematography utilizes what can be
observed as very plan settings delivering a melancholy aura presence that
penetrates the story. With the stylized choice, along with the masterful direction
and inspired acting you may become unaware of the overly classical Shakespeare
style that at time can be very cliché, as well as the rather simple set pieces
at times. Olivier frames the picture in interesting ways that make the images
speak far louder than the words being vocalized. Uses of framing characters within a series of
arches draw attention to characters, making them appear as empty as they are emoting
with the wonderful expression of the camera. Another creative use of framing
and blocking is depicted as characters interact of separate plains to evoking
the perception of dominance in a given situation. These examples as of staging
come from Olivier’s stage experience, but transfer seamlessly to his cinematic
vision in bringing Hamlet to the screen.
The most enthralling camera work comes in the scene of
Hamlet bestowing a play to his mother and uncle, a work that mirrors how
Claudius murdered the king as a indication of Hamlet knowing his uncle’s guilt.
As the play is being presented the camera pans around the audiences as the
gathering of characters watch the players, not realizing it recreating
Claudius’ devilish deed. In the long, carefully plotted camera movements we
observe layers of details as the players perform, Claudius and the queen
becoming increasingly mortified by the play, Hamlet observing their reactions,
and other audience members noticing the new king’s uneasiness. Olivier directs
this scene with the camera in lengthy, complicated movement going from one end
of the audience in a U-shape to the other end and back, focusing on many
characters, some from behind while seeing other in the background. It takes a
great deal of coordination as the camera and its crew sweep across the room and
back with the numerous actors needing to know when to be in place for action or
moving out of the way for the camera to achieve such an important and dramatic
shot.
Laurence Olivier at age forty was among the highest thought
of actors in British stage and screen at the time of production of Hamlet. Coming off of Henry V where he gained tremendous
critical praise for work as actor/director/producer in his cinematic
directorial debut, but Hamlet would
out do it. The choice of the film being shot in black and white was claimed by
Olivier to be an artistic choice comes into question as some stories state that
Oliver was having issues with film stock providers at the time when prestige
pictures were usually given the color treatment. In any case the film benefits
form the blacks and white with the use of shadows and drawing the attention to
the bright blonde head of the most troubled character on the screen, Hamlet.
Furthermore Olivier makes a second, uncredited contribution in the picture as
the haunting voice of Hamlet’s ghostly father’s deeply unsettling tone was
achieved by slowing and pitching down his recorded lines, delivering a very
effective presentation of the mysterious apparition.
His cast would be an ensemble of many classically trained
actors, including Basil Sydney and Eileen Herlie as Claudius and Gertrude. Herlie
was 11 years the junior of Olivier, her son in the picture, a fact that goes
rather unnoticed for those lost in the production. Among the vast many actresses
wishing to portray Ophelia, including Olivier’s own wife of Vivien Leigh, he
would cast a lesser known Jean Simmons who would deliver an Academy Award
nominated performance as Hamlet’s very trouble ex-love who is driven to death.
Many other future British stars of the screen can be found throughout the
production as well in smaller supporting roles, including an uncredited young
Christopher Lee in a non-speaking guard, among others, manifesting Olivier’s
drawing power in the British acting world at the time.
A product of the British producers Hamlet opened to worldwide acclaim becoming the greatest example of
exposure for a single production of Shakespearean work in the world for an
extended time. Box office numbers were very grand on both sides of the Atlantic
Ocean and film critics would praise the film for its great endeavor and
presentation of the classic work.
The feature presents to a running time of roughly two hours
and thirty minutes, which for a play that usually takes four hours means there
were many alterations to the original story, the source of the most negative
criticism for the film and its creator. Vast amounts of the story were cut back
to focus on Hamlet and his relationships, trimming much of the story’s
political plot points. Despite attempting to stay as true to the source
material as possible, much of the dialogue was cut back and select lines were
slightly altered for what Olivier thought would make more sense to the modern
viewer while still utilizing old English. The omission of characters
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern further would upset purists of the play. For many
Shakespearean fans they found the film an abomination to the source material,
while the general public found this version of Hamlet to be more than adequate as an adaptation fit within an
acceptable feature length timeframe.
The motion picture awards circuit gave the picture nearly all
of its greatest prizes. As an participant in the largest international film
festival of the time in Venice, Hamlet
took home the top award, which would later be titled the Golden Lion. In
England BAFTA named Hamlet the Best
Picture from any country, despite not winning for Best British Picture for some
odd reason. Meanwhile at the Academy Awards Olivier would be honored with two
wins, as producer he would received the Best Picture award, as well as his
statue for Best Actor, becoming the first actor to direct himself to an Oscar
win. However, Olivier did not attend the ceremony to accept his honors as he
was in England performing in a play in a play with Vivien Leigh at the time. It
was clear that despite Shakespearean critics the film community found Olivier’s
contribution to the source material and the cinema to be more than deserving to
receive all these great honors.
So if one goes into the film not a Shakespeare fan, although
you may still come out of it still not a Shakespeare enthusiast, you will come
out of it understanding better the heart of the tragedy and with a strong
respect for the man that made it possible. This version of Hamlet remains one of the highest regarded versions of the tale
that has been adapted numerous times over. Olivier would become the face of the
British classical acting around the world despite his critics. His work at
adapting Shakespearean material would not be over as he would return to the
task delivering Richard III in 1955,
closing out his cinematic Shakespeare trilogy.
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