I must admit that I wasn't really all that impressed with this version of Hamlet, though a gut feeling tells me that it is probably the version that most high school students watch, though these days there is probably a much wider collection. The main reason that I wasn't impressed was not so much that they left some things out of the play (such as the very important scene were Hamlet is in the confessional and hears Claudius spill his guts) but that the person playing Hamlet simply seemed too old. Granted, we are given no clues as to Hamlet's age in the play though he appears to be old enough to assume the throne.
Stoppard suggests that Hamlet's problem is that Claudius stole the throne that was rightfully his, but watching this version I noted that Claudius had accepted that the throne was going to be Hamlet's anyway. The issue is not so much that Claudius stole the throne, but that while his father's corpse was still warm, Claudius married his mother. He had no idea that Claudius had killed his father until he was told so by the ghost.
When one makes a movie out of one of Shakespeare's plays I generally do not accept the minimalist approach. While I do like the minimalist approach in the theatre, I have tried to watch the BBC productions and I just did not seem to warm to them. When they are made for the silver screen, there are so much more possibilities. This is clear with a number of American productions which work the play to make it more palpable to the big screen. It did not seem to be the case with this version of Hamlet. Granted, it was made in 1969, but so was the Richard Burton version of Taming of the Shrew, and this was a colourful extravaganza.
I will always prefer a stage acted Shakespearian play, but the screen does allow much more creativity (such as the version of Richard III set in 1930's England, or the Macbeth set in the Melbourne underworld). It did not seem that this film explored the possibilities that the screen allows all too much, and as such I feel that this movie simply falls flat.
Stoppard suggests that Hamlet's problem is that Claudius stole the throne that was rightfully his, but watching this version I noted that Claudius had accepted that the throne was going to be Hamlet's anyway. The issue is not so much that Claudius stole the throne, but that while his father's corpse was still warm, Claudius married his mother. He had no idea that Claudius had killed his father until he was told so by the ghost.
When one makes a movie out of one of Shakespeare's plays I generally do not accept the minimalist approach. While I do like the minimalist approach in the theatre, I have tried to watch the BBC productions and I just did not seem to warm to them. When they are made for the silver screen, there are so much more possibilities. This is clear with a number of American productions which work the play to make it more palpable to the big screen. It did not seem to be the case with this version of Hamlet. Granted, it was made in 1969, but so was the Richard Burton version of Taming of the Shrew, and this was a colourful extravaganza.
I will always prefer a stage acted Shakespearian play, but the screen does allow much more creativity (such as the version of Richard III set in 1930's England, or the Macbeth set in the Melbourne underworld). It did not seem that this film explored the possibilities that the screen allows all too much, and as such I feel that this movie simply falls flat.