HAMLET
A film review by John Bauer
Copyright 1997 John Bauer
***1/2 (out of 4)
Undoubtedly among the most famous film adaptations of Shakespeare -- and the only one to win a Best Picture Oscar -- Laurence Olivier's black-and-white HAMLET of 1948 would seem to be one for the ages. And in many ways it is. Any chance to see as legendary an actor as Olivier in an important dramatic role is to be cherished as a piece of theatrical history. It is likewise of interest to view any interpretation of a classic work through the eyes of a different time and culture. Of course, time is not always kind.
Opening shots of swirling fog over an ancient castle set the mood: this HAMLET is of a tradition almost forgotten in our post-modern need to outfit pre-modern texts in more contemporary trappings. The score by William Walton rises portentously. And the omniscient director intones that we are about to see the story of "a man who could not make up his mind."
In one of the unintentional ironies of this production, the famous soliloquy which delineates the protagonist's ambivalence so clearly and eloquently is also one of the most overwrought and ineffective scenes in the film. When Hamlet counsels the Players on the proper reading of their lines, he warns them not to offend nature with declamation that is unnatural. Would that this film always heeded that advice. There are moments when the conventions of the cinema of its time threaten to overtake the story: revelatory plot points accompanied by loud musical flourishes and tight closeups of tortured, scandalized faces.
Fortunately these moments are few. The awkward soliloquy, for example, is preceded by a wonderful scene between Hamlet and Ophelia and followed by a well-turned entrance for the Players. It is the preponderance of the good over the occasional misfire that keeps the overall quality of the production high.
Olivier's performance, while sometimes stagebound, has an appropriately brooding intensity that draws you in (though it does seem a bit at war with his costume: he's been done up to look like a pixie). The rest of the cast is uniformly good, Basil Sydney's Claudius being unusually strong. He emerges as a more complex mixture of villainy and remorse than is commonly seen. Standouts in minor roles include Stanley Holloway as the wryly enigmatic Gravedigger and Peter Cushing's amusingly obsequious Osric. Jean Simmons is not as effective an Ophelia as some of her cinematic followers (e.g., Kate Winslet), but like the rest of the troupe, she does well enough.
In the end, what makes this HAMLET noteworthy is its cumulative strength. Whatever awkward moments there are mostly occur early on, so the tale is played out with minimal distraction. And despite some staginess in the film, Olivier must be credited with making Shakespeare come alive on the screen to the point where you forget you're watching "art" and simply become absorbed in the story. When Hamlet is finally carried out of the castle, you feel like you've witnessed something momentous.
May 10, 1997
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