Themes: Assassination Plots, Mothers and Sons, Out For Revenge
Main Cast: Nicol Williamson, Gordon Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Judy Parfitt, Mark Dignam
Release Year: 1969
Country: UK
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: G
Plot
Perhaps the reason there are so many filmed versions of Hamlet is that in each decade every great Shakespeareian actor, and almost any movie actor with a yen to prove his versatility wants to tilt at this particular thespian windmill. Aside from the much more difficult King Lear, it is also one of the few plays by the master that can serve as a star vehicle. This 1969 version of the Bard's great play features the ardent mumblings of the actor Nicol Williamson, who brought his non-Standard British to the role. Williamson's esoteric enunciations were all the rage at the time of this film's revision of Shakespearian tradition, and his vocal mannerisms were arguably more authentic than usual. Scholars tell us that the English of Londoners in Shakespeare's time sounded very much like that spoken by Highland Scots today. Despite his stage success in the role, the vastly capable actor's magnetism was insufficient to make a popular success of this particular version. All the same, it is worth viewing on its own merits, and for supporting performances by future stars Anthony Hopkins and Anjelica Huston. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Michael Pennington - Laertes; Marianne Faithfull - Ophelia; Ben Aris - Rosencrantz; Clive Graham - Guildenstern; John Carney - Player King; Richard Everett - Player Queen; Roger Livesey - Lucianus/Gravedigger; Robin Chadwick - Francisco; Ian Collier - Priest; Michael Elphick - Captain; Mark Griffith - Messenger; Anjelica Huston - Court Lady; Bill Jarvis - Courtier; Roger Lloyd Pack - Reynaldo; John Railton - First Sailor; Jennifer Tudor - Court Lady; Peter Gale - Osric; John Trenaman - Bernardo
Credit
Tony Richardson - Director, Charles Rees - Editor, Patrick Gowers - Composer (Music Score), Jocelyn Herbert - Production Designer, Gerry Fisher - Cinematographer, Martin Ransohoff - Producer, Neil Hartley - Producer, Leslie Linder - Producer, Tony Jackson - Sound/Sound Designer, Tony Richardson - Screenwriter, William Shakespeare - Play Author
The film, a departure from big-budget Hollywood renditions of classics, was made with a small budget and a very minimalist set, consisting of Renaissance fixtures and costumes in a dark, shadowed space. A brick tunnel is used for the scenes on the battlements. The Ghost of Hamlet's father is represented only by a light shining on the observers. The film places much emphasis on the sexual aspects of the play, to the point of including an incestuous relationship between Laertes and Ophelia.
Othello (1955) •It Should Happen to a Dog (1955) •"BBC Sunday Night Theatre" (1955) •"ITV Play of the Week" (1956) •"The Sunday-Night Play" (1960) •A Death in Canaan (1978) •The Penalty Phase (1986) •Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun (1988) •Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (with Frederic Raphael and Ken Russell) •The Phantom of the Opera (1990)
