Actors - Hamlet

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Hamlet (1948 film)

	Actors - Hamlet

Hamlet is a 1948 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet. It stars Laurence Olivier, Eileen Herlie and Jean Simmons, and was adapted by Olivier, Reginald Beck and Anthony Bushell. It was directed by Olivier.

Academy Awards

Trivia

Herlie, who plays Hamlet's mother, was 28 years old when the movie was filmed. Olivier, who plays her son, was 41.

In the past, the 1948 film was often considered to be the definitive cinematic rendition of "Hamlet". Over the years, however, it has lost some of its status - especially in comparison to Olivier's versions of "Henry V" and "Richard III", mostly because Olivier, according to some critics, overemphasized Hamlet's Oedipal fixation on his mother, and because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of the most important supporting characters in the play, were completely omitted from this film version, robbing the film of what could have been some of its best dramatic moments. In 1996, Kenneth Branagh's film version of the complete "Hamlet" brought out the faults of the Olivier "Hamlet" even more distinctly, by including everything that Olivier had omitted, and by having what many say is a better supporting cast than the 1948 film. But despite all this, the performances, the photography, the art direction and the musical score have always been very highly regarded. In particular, Olivier is still considered the definitive Hamlet. It was the only film in which the leading actor has directed himself to an Oscar-winning performance, until 1997, when Roberto Benegini directed himself to an Oscar in Life is Beautiful.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Hamlet (1948 film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Hamlet (1948 film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Actors - Hamlet

Academy Awards

Trivia

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay