William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Kenneth Branagh
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Billy Crystal, G?rard Depardieu, Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Kenneth BranaghDirector: Kenneth Branagh
Brand: Warner Brothers
Primary Contributor: Kenneth Branagh
Primary Contributor: Julie Christie
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.20:1
Running Time: 242 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-14
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Hamlet has the kind of power, energy and excitement that movies can truly exploit,' award-winning actor/director Kenneth Branagh says. In this first-ever full-text film of William Shakespeare's greatest work, the power surges through every scene. The timeless tale of murder, corruption and revenge is reset in an opulent 19th-century world, using sprawling Blenheim Palace as Elsinore and st
Movie Reviews of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: Notable effort, less accessible than other efforts. Mixed casting.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have liked Kenneth Branagh's other Shakespeare films. I appreciate that he doesn't reduce the plays to sing-songy recitals. Having said that, he seems to have a weakness for some inappropriate casting. Let's start with Jack Lemmon. I like Jack Lemmon. He is a gifted comedic and dramatic actor, but he had no business whatsoever playing a guard in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Now, I know Ophelia's supposed to be mad, but Kate WInslett's Ophelia is simply incoherent most of the time. I'd have preferred Helena Bonham Carter, but with her you have to take Mel Gibson as Hamlet.
The choice of Julie Christie as Gertrude, on the other hand, is inspired. Her performance makes sense of a woman who would sleep with her murderous former brother-in-law.
All of the plot points are made clearly for once, but except for Hamlet's ambiguity about the status of humanity in the cosmos, most of the subtle stuff gets short shrift.
Summary of William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
No Description Available.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 14-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD
It's the greatest work of literature, but nobody had ever filmed Hamlet uncut--until Kenneth Branagh went about the task for his lavish 1996 production. The result is a sumptuous, star-studded version that scores a palpable hit on its avowed goal: to make the text as clear and urgent as possible. Branagh himself plays the melancholy son of the Danish court, caught in a famous muddle about whether to seek revenge against his royal father's presumed slayer. the man who now sits on the throne and shares the bed of Hamlet's mother. (Or, as the song "That's Entertainment" summarizes the plot: "A ghost and a prince meet / And everyone winds up mincemeat.") As a director, Branagh (who shot the movie in 70 mm.) uses the vast, cold interiors of a vaguely 19th-century manor to gorgeous effect; the story might scurry down this hallway, into that back chamber, or sprawl out into the enormous main room. With its endless collection of mirrors, the place is as big and empty as Citizen Kane's Xanadu.
That all works; what doesn't work is Branagh's tendency to over-direct the big dramatic moments. He indulges in quick cutting and flashbacks as though to fend off the audience's objections to the four-hour running time, and the style sometimes looks like wasted energy. The experienced Shakespearians in the cast come off nicely; Derek Jacobi's Claudius, Richard Briers' Polonius, and Michael Maloney's Laertes are just terrific. Julie Christie is a suitably attractive Gertrude, and Kate Winslet makes the most of Ophelia's mad scenes. Branagh's habit of folding in unexpected American performers is on the mark, too: Billy Crystal is surprisingly good as the Gravedigger, Robin Williams predictably camps up Osric, and Charlton Heston is an inspired choice as the grandiloquent Player King. The biggest irony here is that Branagh himself is not quite spot-on as Hamlet. Of course he speaks the lines beautifully, but Branagh's screen personality radiates certainty and clarity of vision; there's little of the doubt that might make him Hamlet-esque. Still, tremendous credit for fending off slings and arrows to get the movie made. --Robert Horton
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