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DVD Hamlet
Franco Zeffirelli's stripped-down, two-hour version of Shakespeare's play stars Mel Gibson as a rather robust version of the ambivalent Danish prince. Gibson is much better in the part than many critics have admitted, his powers of clarity doing much to make this particular Hamlet more accessible than several other filmed versions. The supporting cast is outstanding, including Glenn Close as Gertrude, Alan Bates as Claudius, Ian Holm as Polonius, and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. Zeffirelli's vigorous direction employs a lively camera style that nicely alters the viewer's preconceptions about the way Hamlet should look. --Tom Keogh
I give this film version of Hamlet one star only, and that is for the Paul Scofield's terrific ghost, which is perhaps emblematic of the several smaller roles taken in this production by superb Shakespearean actors of British backgrounds.
Such performances notwithstanding, the film is, quite simply, dreadful, and more in the vein of high melodrama than high tragedy. Gibson is altogether unable to convey anything of Hamlet's complexity. Why are mediocre actors applauded for their "vitality", when the results are this, well, mediocre? And given her abundant gifts as an actor, Close is especially disappointing as Gertrude. The problem here may be partly interpretation, and hence the responsibility of Zeffirelli.
In fact, it is Zeffirelli who surprises me most of all with this mess, as he has been responsible for several fine renditions of the Bard's plays, not the least of which was his Romeo and Juliet.
One is much better off going to any of number of other cinematic Hamlets, begining with Olivier's magnificent 1948 assumption. And if the objective is to appeal to a mainstream audience, why not turn to Almereyda's 2000 film, set in New York City? For all of its eccentricity, that film, contains some interesting performances, and on the whole, possesses the tragic quality that a good Hamlet should.
"These Are the Best Actors in the World."
I put off seeing this film for many years as I did not believe that Gibson would issue appropriate treatment to Shakespeare's masterpiece. In retrospect, Braveheart and Gibson's own masterpiece, The Passion, should have alerted me that Mel was a serious artist with extensive vision far before his later achievements came along. Here, more venturesome viewers than I, discovered that Gibson was not a bubblegum actor but a figure worthy of association with the bard. With this film we see a rather early glimpse of what Mel Gibson would become. There is a boyous impetuousity and energy to his performance that makes him infinitely believable. Helena Bonham-Carter is her princessularly beautiful self. As a feminine figure of wonder she has few peers. Ian Holm, as always, is first class. The same can be said of Glenn Close. One of the things I find rewarding about watching Shakespeare on DVD is turning on the subtitles and having the text enhance the visual experience...and enhance your mind as well.
Cuts to the Chase
The 1990s were glory years for Shakespeare, highlighted by TWO superb Hamlets. The Branagh version was the complete play done in a sumptuous manner and is a must for Shakespeare lovers. The Zeffirelli version, starring Mel Gibson and performed against an undefined medieval backdrop, is a must for anyone who wants to know what Hamlet is about but is intimidated by Shakespeare.
The text is butchered to the bare bones. Part of this is because you don't have to say what you can show. But Zeffirelli and his writers knew exactly what to cut out to make the play flow and not lose the name of action. This Hamlet moves along with the swiftness of an action movie. And the script retains the most famous lines.
The casting may seem peculiar, but Gibson plays a potent Hamlet, a welcome change from the typically moody introverted scholar. The rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, most of them old hands at Shakespeare -- Ian Holm, Alan Bates, Paul Schofield, Helena Bonham Carter. The only weak link is Glenn Close; to be fair, Gertrude doesn't have a lot of lines with which to establish her character, and Close compensates with a lot of wide-eyed expressions.
Extras prove a mixed blessing. A trailer and two features, one short and one long. Both the latter are puff pieces on Gibson. The short one is an older Mel reflecting back on the experience. The longer one is done home-movie style, mostly with Mel reflecting on the role as he's in the midst of it, with comments by Holm, Bates, Close, and Bonham Carter -- and Mel's real-life parents -- thrown in. Both documentaries are painless and provide insight to an actor's approach to the most famous role he's ever had to play; and the longer one has intriguing behind-the-scenes clips. But a documentary about Zeffirelli, especially focussing on his desire to make Hamlet and why he made it in this manner would have been welcome. Or a documentary about the play and/or the role of Hamlet itself. So would a running commentary, perhaps by a Shakespeare scholar who could inform those unfamiliar with the play about what they're seeing, and fill in the gaps about what was excised. Nevertheless, if you want to see this Hamlet to watch Mel Gibson in action, the extras will make you happy.
Both the Branagh version and the Zeffirelli version are recommended, but while the former is a marathon, this Gibson version is a lively sprint.
Very few films come close to the brilliance Kenneth Branagh achieved with his first foray into screenwriting and direction. Henry V qualifies as a masterpiece, the kind of film that comes along once in a decade. He eschews the theatricality of Laurence Olivier's stirring, fondly remembered 1945 adaptation to establish his own rules. Branagh plays it down and dirty, seeing the bard's play through revisionist eyes, framing it as an antiwar story. Branagh gives us harsh close-ups of muddied, bloody men, and close-ups of himself as Henry, his hardened mouth and willful eyes revealing much about this land war. Not that the director-star doesn't provide lighter moments. His scenes introducing the French Princess Katherine (Emma Thompson) are toothsome. Bubbly, funny, enhanced by lovely... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Kenneth Branagh - Derek Jacobi Director(s): Kenneth Branagh DVD Release Date: Released the 18 July 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Oliver Parker, a stage and film actor (Hellraiser), made his directorial debut with this scaled-back version of Shakespeare's play about the paranoid Moor, Othello (Laurence Fishburne), and his manipulative friend, Iago (Kenneth Branagh). Parker gets the story so lean he starts running a little short on the author's subtext, and if it's possible to overemphasize the banality of Iago's scheming and Othello's malleability, he does so. The director throws out what is universal in the story and makes it all seem merely ordinary, human, and unfortunate, which is the opposite of what watching Shakespeare should be. In the end, it's hard to care what these characters have done to one another. Branagh's Iago is a little flat and unfocused, while Fishburne is excellent as a quieter Othello... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Laurence Fishburne - Irène Jacob - Kenneth Branagh Director(s): Oliver Parker DVD Release Date: Released the 18 January 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was unique in its day for casting kids in the play's pivotal roles of, well, kids. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old Olivia Hussey play the titular pair, the Bard's star-crossed lovers who defy a running feud between their families in order to be together in love. Typically played on stage and in previous film productions by adult actors, the innocent look and rawness of Whiting and Hussey resonated at the time with a burgeoning youth movement from San Francisco to Prague. The tragic romance at the center of the story also clicked with anti-authority sentiments, but even without that, Zeffirelli scores points by validating the ideals and passions of strong-willed adolescents. Less successful are... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Franco Zeffirelli DVD Release Date: Released the 23 May 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Kenneth Branagh's 1993 production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is a vigorous and imaginative work, cheerful and accessible for everyone. Largely the story of Benedick (Branagh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson)--adversaries who come to believe each is trying to woo the other--the film veers from arched wit to ironic romps, and the two leads don't mind looking a little silly at times. But the plot is also layered with darker matters that concern the ease with which men and women fall into mutual distrust. Branagh has rounded up a mixed cast of stage vets and Hollywood stars, among the latter Denzel Washington and Michael Keaton, the latter playing a rather seedy, Beetlejuice-like version of Dogberry, king of malapropisms. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Kate Beckinsale - Keanu Reeves - Emma Thompson DVD Release Date: Released the 07 January 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Two of England's greatest actors, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench, electrify in this lean, stripped-down production of Shakespeare's darkest tragedy. In the wake of a battle, the Scottish warrior Macbeth (McKellen, Gods and Monsters, Lord of the Rings) receives a prophecy from a trio of witches: He shall be king. When fate doesn't unfold quickly enough, Macbeth and his even more ambitious wife (Dench, Shakespeare in Love, Iris) decide to give it a push. McKellen sweats anxiously and oozes a creeping lust for power, while Dench is hypnotically vicious from her first moment. For audiences used to their film careers, this grand pair will seem young as pups (this TV movie is from 1979, adapted from an acclaimed Royal Shakespeare Company... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Philip Casson DVD Release Date: Released the 16 November 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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