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"Shakespeare films" have never become a : Olivier's Hamlet, for example, can be viewed among the body of his directoral work. Zeffirelli's version can be viewed, as much as anything as "a Mel Gibson film".Keyishian, pp.72-81 A major decision for the director of Hamlet, on stage or on screen, is whether to include Fortinbras, leading to a more political, and less personal, performance than those from which he is cut. Fortinbras makes no appearance in Olivier's and Zeffirelli's versions, while in Kozintzev's and Branagh's films he is a major presence.Guntner, J. Lawrence: ''Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear on film'' in Jackson, Russell (ed.) ''The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) pp.117-123 Another significant decision for a director is whether to play up, or play down, Hamlet's incestuous feelings for Gertrude. Zeffirelli followed Olivier in highlighting that aspect of the plot (especially through casting decisions) while Kozintzev and Branagh suppress any Freudian overtones.Guntner, pp.120-123 SIGNIFICANT THEATRICAL RELEASES Laurence Olivier, 1948 See Also: Hamlet (1948 film) This British version of ''Hamlet '' was directed by and starred Laurence Olivier . It was Olivier's second film as director, and is the second of his three Shakespeare films. It is the only film he made in Black And White . It has received the most prestigious accolades of any Shakespeare film, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor . Olivier excised the "political" elements of tha play (cutting Fortinbas, Rozencrantz and Guildernstern entirely) in favour of an intensely psychological performance.Guntner, p.118 He played-up the Oedipal overtones of the play, to the extent of casting the 28-year-old Eileen Herlie as Hamlet's mother, opposite himself as Hamlet, at 41. One critic commented that "Hamlet's scenes with the Queen in her low-cut gowns are virtually love scenes."Jorgens, Jack ''Shakespeare on Film'' (Bloomington, 1997) p.217 cited by Davies, Anthony in ''The Shakespeare films of Laurence Olivier'' in Jackson, Russell (ed.) ''The Campbridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) p.171 The style of the film owes much to German Expressionism and to Film Noir : the cavernous sets featuring narrow winding stairwells correspond to the labyrinths of Hamlet's psyche.Guntner, p.119 Grigori Kozintsev, 1964 See Also: Hamlet (1964 film) ''Hamlet'' (sometimes ''Gamlet'') () is a 1964 film adaptation in , having been imprisoned by Stalin.Guntner, p.120 In contrast to Olivier's film, Kozintzev's is political and public. Where Olivier had narrow winding stairwells, Kozintzev had broad avenues, peopled with ambassadors and courtiers.Guntner, p.121 The camera frequently looks through bars and grates: the image of Ophelia in an iron farthingale symbolising the fate of the sensitive and intelligent in the film's tough political environment.Guntner, p.120 Kozintzev consistently cast actors whose first language was not Russian, so as to bring shades of other traditions into his film.Sokolyansky, Mark ''Grigori Kozintzev's Hamlet and King Lear'' in Jackson, Russell (ed.) ''The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000) p.202 Smoktunovsky's individual manner of acting distinguished the film from other versions, and his explosive behaviour in the recorder scene is viewed , by many critics, as the film's climax.Sokolyansky, p.203 Franco Zeffirelli, 1990 See Also: Hamlet (1990 film) The appeal of film. Keyishian, pp.72-81 The play ''Hamlet'' is well suited to this treatment, as it provides occasions for "enjoyable violence".Keyishian, p.77 The casting of Glenn Close as Mel Gibson's mother (only eleven years older than him, in life) together with their performance of the closet-scene, highlights the incest theme, leaving "little to our post-Freudian imagination".Guntner, pp.121-122 Kenneth Branagh, 1996 See Also: Hamlet (1996 film) ''William Shakespeare's Hamlet'' was adapted and directed by 's Ophelia, for example, or his childhood affection for Ken Dodd 's YorickKeyishian, p.79 Michael Almereyda, 2000 See Also: Hamlet (2000 film) Directed by of Hamlet's murdered Father first appears on Closed-circuit TV . The script is heavily cut, to suit the modern day surroundings. Ethan Hawke is the youngest of the big-screen Hamlets, at 29. Filmhead.com review accessed 6 April 2007. The Lion King See Also: The Lion King A recent significant film adaptation of the Hamlet story is Disney's Academy Award -winning animated feature The Lion King, in which the king's brother murders the king, taking his place as ruler of the Pride Lands. The exiled son of the late king (the central character, Simba ) is exhorted by his father's ghost to challenge his wicked uncle. As befits the genre, the tragic ending of Shakespeare's play is avoided.12 LIST OF SCREEN PERFORMANCES
: Clément Maurice director : Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet (sic) : Pierre Magnier as Laertes
: Sir Johnstone Forbes-Robertson as Hamlet
: Sven Gade & Heinz Schall directors : Asta Nielsen as Hamlet, born female and raised as a man
: Laurence Olivier director and as Hamlet : Jean Simmons as Ophelia
: Maurice Evans as Hamlet : Joseph Schildkraut as Claudius : Ruth Chatterton as Gertrude : Sarah Churchill (actress) as Ophelia : Barry Jones as Polonius
: Franz Peter Wirth director : Maximilian Schell as Hamlet
: Grigori Kozintsev director : Innokenti Smoktunovsky as Hamlet : Mikhail Nazvanov as Claudius : Anastasiya Vertinskaya as Ophelia : Dmitry Shostakovich 's music : Boris Pasternak 's translation
:Sir John Gielgud director and voice of the ghost of Hamlet's father : Richard Burton as Hamlet : Alfred Drake as Claudius : Hume Cronyn as Polonius : John Cullum as Laertes
: Tony Richardson director : Nicol Williamson as Hamlet : Marianne Faithfull as Ophelia : Anthony Hopkins as Claudius
:Directed by Peter Wood (the British director, not the musician) : Richard Chamberlain as Hamlet : Michael Redgrave as Polonius : John Gielgud as the Ghost : Margaret Leighton as Gertrude : Richard Johnson as Claudius : Ciaran Madden as Ophelia
:Released in the USA as part of the "Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare" series. : Rodney Bennett director : Derek Jacobi as Hamlet : Claire Bloom as Gertrude : Patrick Stewart as Claudius : Lalla Ward as Ophelia
: Franco Zeffirelli director : Mel Gibson as Hamlet : Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia : Glenn Close as Gertrude : Ian Holm as Polonius
: Kirk Browning co-director : Kevin Kline co-director and as Hamlet
: Natalia Orlova director : Nicholas Farrell as the voice of Hamlet
: Kenneth Branagh director and as Hamlet : Kate Winslet as Ophelia : Derek Jacobi as Claudius : Richard Briers as Polonius
: Campbell Scott director and as Hamlet : Blair Brown as Gertrude
: Michael Almereyda director : Ethan Hawke as Hamlet : Julia Stiles as Ophelia : Bill Murray as Polonius
: Mike Mundell director : William Houston as Hamlet
: Oscar Redding director LIST OF SCREEN ADAPTATIONS This list includes adaptations of the Hamlet story, and films in which the characters are involved in acting or studying Hamlet.
: Ernst Lubitsch director
: Akira Kurosawa director : Toshirô Mifune as Koichi Nishi
: Metin Erksan , director : Fatma Girik as a female Hamlet
: Aki Kaurismäki director : Pirkka-Pekka Petelius as Hamlet
: Mel Brooks director
: Dave Thomas co-director and as Doug McKenzie : Rick Moranis co-director and as Bob McKenzie
: Tom Stoppard director : Gary Oldman as Rozencrantz (or Guildenstern) : Tim Roth as Guildenstern (or Rozencrantz) : Richard Dreyfuss as the Player King
: Penny Marshall director : Danny DeVito as Bill
: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff directors : Matthew Broderick as the voice of Simba (the Hamlet character) : James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa (the Old Hamlet character) : Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar (the Claudius character)
: Kenneth Branagh director : Michael Maloney as Joe (Hamlet) : Julia Sawalha as Nina (Ophelia)
: Stacy Title director : Jonathan Penner as Jack Lyne (Hamlet) : Jamey Sheridan as Carl Lyne (Claudius) : Mary-Louise Parker as Julia Hirsch (Ophelia)
: Feng Xiaogang , director : Zhang Ziyi as Empress Wan (Gertrude) : Daniel Wu as Prince Wu Luan (Hamlet) : Zhou Xun as Qing Nu (Ophelia) : Ge You as Emperor Li (Claudius) REFERENCES |
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