William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Billy Crystal, Gérard Depardieu, Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Kenneth BranaghBrand: BRANAGH,KENNETH
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
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)
Model: C2683
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: Essential cinema: Branagh's 'Hamlet.'
Summary: 5 Stars
Shakespeare's greatest play, Hamlet (1602), is a revenge tragedy, in which the brooding title character seeks revenge for his father's death. It tells the story of Danish Prince Hamlet, who plots revenge on his uncle, Claudius, the current king, for killing his father, King Hamlet. After his mother, Queen Gertrude, hastily marries the usurper, Hamlet feigns madness. His madness is tested with a young woman, Ophelia. In this film, Keneth Branagh plays Hamlet, Derek Jacobi plays Claudius, Julie Christie plays Gertrude, and the lovely Kate Winslet plays doomed Ophelia.
Branagh is known for his film adaptations of Shakespeare: Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006). Although there are no less than 65 motion picture and television versions of the play, Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet is unique in many ways:
With a running time of 242 minutes, it is the first film to include the complete unabridged text (four thousand lines of dialogue) of Shakespeare's four-hour play. (Branagh's adapted screenplay adds only a single word, "Attack!") Although Branagh transposed a couple of speeches, he did not change the overall order of scenes (as Olivier did in his 1948 film version of the play).
Hamlet was the last feature film photographed entirely in the Panavision System 65mm film format, resulting in a visually stunning experience. Branagh's use of Victorian era costuming and furnishings, and the 18th-century Blenheim Palace as a film set only adds to that visual spectacle.
Branagh uses silent flashbacks and dream sequences to depict the events being spoken of in many monologues and soliloquies. For instance, Ophelia's dialogue is often accompanied by flashbacks depicting her sexual tryst with Hamlet; Hamlet's graveyard reminiscence of the Jester Yorick (Ken Dodd) is accompanied by a flashback depicting the Jester performing for Hamlet as a child.
Branagh's use of flashback sequences and the unabridged version of Shakespeare's play allows for many celebrity cameo appearances in his film: Jack Lemmon as the palace guard Marcellus; Brian Blessed as the ghost of Hamlet's father; Sir John Gielgud and Dame Judi Dench as Priam and Hecuba; Gérard Depardieu as the servant Reynaldo; Robin Williams as the courtier Osric; Charlton Heston as the First Player; Richard Attenborough as the English Ambassador; and Billy Crystal as a memorable gravedigger (with a New York accent).
Although the role of Hamlet has attracted many top-rank actors, including Thomas Betterton, David Garrick, Samuel Phelps, Henry Irving, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, John Barrymore {1922 and 1925), Donald Wolfit (1935), Sir Laurence Olivier (1948), Paul Scofield (1949 and 1955), Ian McKellen (1971), and Derek Jacobi (1978), Branagh's performance in bringing Shakespeare's melancholy Prince to life is superb and ranks easily with Sir Laurence Olivier's 1948 Oscar-winning performance.
Why watch Branagh's Hamlet? (1) Watching any production of Hamlet expands our understanding of what it means to be alive in the world by asking some of the biggest questions about human existence; (2) For Branagh's fine delivery, editing, tight trousers and stunning hair; (3) For Hamlet's kiss with Claudius; (4) For the Hamlet and Ophelia flashback sex scenes; (4) For Winslet's performance of Ophelia's descent into madness; (5) Because it's 242 minutes of Shakespeare at his finest; (6) Because once you start the visual spectacle of Branagh's film, it's hard to look away.
Hamlet has never looked better than on this new, long-awaited DVD release, which includes an introduction by Branagh; commentary by Branagh and Shakespeare scholar Russell Jackson; a new digital transfer from original 70mm; a remastered soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1; and a featurette, "To Be on Camera: A History with Hamlet." Highly recommended.
G. Merritt
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
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