UK, 1948
155m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
A British fantasy film directed by Laurence Olivier. It was originally released in London on 6 May 1948.
Plot Summary
The Danish prince Hamlet seeks revenge for the murder of his father at the hands of his uncle. Obsessed by his revenge and driven by the ghost of his late father, Hamlet risks losing everything…
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Laurence Olivier
© [not given on screen]
A J. Arthur Rank enterprise. A Two Cities film under the management of Filippo del Giudice. Laurence Olivier presents
Producer: Laurence Olivier *
By: William Shakespeare
Text Editor: Alan Dent
Photographer: Desmond Dickinson
Editor: Helga Cranston
Music by: William Walton
Assistant Conductor: John Hollingsworth *
Sound Recorders: John W. Mitchell, L.E. Overton
Wardrobe Designer: Roger Furse *
Make-up: Tony Sforzini
Hairdressing: Vivienne Walker
Special Effects: Paul Sheriff, Henry Harris, Jack Whitehead
Designer: Roger Furse
Made at: D&P Studios
Cast
men at arms
John Laurie (Francisco)
Esmond Knight (Bernardo)
Anthony Quayle (Marcellus)
Niall MacGinnis (sea captain)
the play within the play
Harcourt Williams (first player)
Patrick Troughton (player king)
Tony Tarver (player queen)
servants to the court
Peter Cushing (Osric)
Stanley Holloway (gravedigger)
Russell Thorndike (priest)
the Royal Court of Denmark
Basil Sydney (Claudius, the king)
Eileen Herlie by arrangement with Sir Alexander Korda (Gertrude, the queen)
Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, prince of Denmark)
Norman Wooland (Horatio, his friend)
Felix Aylmer (Polonius, Lord Chamberlain)
Terence Morgan (Laertes, his son)
Jean Simmons (Ophelia, and daughter)
Alternative Titles
Amleto – Italy
Links
Extracts included in
The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003)
History Brought to Life (1950)
Last Action Hero (1993)
Laurence Olivier: A Life (1982)
Peter Cushing: A One-Way Ticket to Hollywood (1989)
William Shakespeare (2000)
References
Periodicals
- Bianco e Nero vol.9 no.5 (July 1948) p.76 – review
- British Journal of Photography vol.96 no.4673 (9 December 1949) p.591 – article
- Castle of Frankenstein no.10 p.40
- Celulóide vol.4 no.58 (October 1962) p.5 – article
- Cinéaste vol.22 no.3 (December 1996) pp.46-47 – article (by Gary Crowdus)
- Cinema Journal vol.26 no.4 (Summer 1987) pp.22-48 – article (Olivier, Hamlet and Freud by Peter Donaldson)
- Empire no.3 (September 1989) p.93 – review (by Angie Errigo)
- Eyepiece vol.10 no.7 (October 1989) pp.17-18 – article (There is a Divinity that Shapes by Ray Sturgess)
- Film International vol.6 no.5 (2008) pp.70-72 – DVD reviews (Olivier’s Shakespeare (1944-55) by Will Gartside)
- Films in Review vol.30 no.10 (December 1979) pp.577-599 – illustrated biography, filmography (Laurence Olivier: The Man and His Films by DeWitt Bodeen)
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.1 no.4 (Autumn 1973) pp.316-320 – article
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.25 no.2 (1997) pp.111-118; 119-124 – article (“In the Rank Sweat of an Enseamed Bed”: Sexual Aberration and the Paradigmatic Screen Hamlets by James R Simmons Jr); article (Freud’s Footprints in Films of Hamlet by Philip Weller)
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.28 no.2 (2000) pp.101-111; 112-117 – article (Gertrude’s willow speech: word and film image by Hanna Scolnicov); article (The effects of primacy and recency upon audience response to two film versions of Othello by James H. Lake)
- Literature/Film Quarterly vol.34 no.2 (2006) pp.120-129 – article (“To be or not to be” in “The Belly of the Whale”; A Reading of Joseph Campbell’s “Modern Hero” Hypothesis in Hamlet on Film by Yvette K. Khoury)
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.15 no.173 (May 1948) p.60 – credits, synopsis, review
- La Revue du Cinéma vol.3 no.18 (October 1948) p.57 – article
- Shakespeare Bulletin vol.11 no.1 (Winter 1993) pp.36-37 – article (Three Hamlets on Film by Justin Shaltz)
- Shakespeare Bulletin vol.16 no.3 Summer 1998) pp.36-37 – article (The Fortunes of Fortinbras in three film versions of Hamlet)
- Sight and Sound vol.17 no.66 (Summer 1948) p.99 – article
- Sight and Sound vol.15 no.9 (September 2005) p.90 – DVD review (The Rank Collection by Geoffrey Macnab)
- Today’s Cinema vol.70 no.5643 (5 May 1948) p.15 – review
Books
- Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 by Sheldon Hall p.64, 81, 102
- BFI Screen Guides: 100 Shakespeare Films by Daniel Rosenthal pp. 23-26
- British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928-1959 by David Quinlan p.215 – illustrated credits, synopsis
- Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema: A Filmography of Their 22 Collaborations by Mark A. Miller pp.28-32
- The Christopher Lee Filmography by Tom Johnson and Mark A. Miller pp.10-12
- Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History by Jonathan Rigby pp.18, 78
- The Cult Films of Christopher Lee by Jonathan Sothcott p.15
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.37
- The Film Hamlet: A Record of its Production by Brenda Cross
- The Films of Christopher Lee by Robert W. Pohle Jr and Douglas C. Hart pp.6-7
- Lord of Misrule (new edition) by Christopher Lee pp.113, 297
- Peter Cushing: The Gentle Man of Horror and His 91 Films by Deborah Del Vecchio and Tom Johnson pp.41-46 – illustrated credits, review
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee pp.180-181 – credits
- Shakespeare and the Film by Roger Manvell pp.40-47;163 – notes; credits
- Shakespeare on Screen by Daniel Rosenthal pp.22-25 – illustrated article
- Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer p.61-62 – credits, notes
