Hamlet (1921)

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Movie
Original title Hamlet
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1921
length 131 minutes
Rod
Director Svend Gade
Heinz Schall
script Erwin Gepard after Prof. Vining and Shakespeare
production Asta Nielsen (Art-Film GmbH Berlin; Asta-Film)
music Giuseppe Becce
camera Curt Courant
Axel Graatkjaer
occupation

Hamlet is a German film adaptation that was made under the direction of the Dane Svend Gade and the German Heinz Schall in 1920. Produced by Asta Nielsen , the film became both the greatest success at the German box office in 1921 and the first public success of a German film in the United States after the First World War.

action

From Franz Peffer designed movie poster for the silent movie Hamlet with Asta Nielsen in the title role;
around 1920, printed by Meissner & Buch , Leipzig; owned by the Museum of Modern Art (MomA)

In a battle between the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, the Norwegian king falls, while the Danish ruler Hamlet is only wounded. Norway then became a vassal state to Denmark. The premature news that King Hamlet had fallen reached the Danish court in Helsingør just as Queen Gertrude had just given birth to a girl. This is presented to the people as the male heir to the throne, Prince Hamlet, and King Hamlet also leaves it at this state lie after his return. Hamlet is raised as prince and heir to the throne and sent to Wittenberg to study.

Claudius, King Hamlet's brother, in agreement with Queen Gertrude, murders the rightful ruler and snatches the royal crown by marrying the widow. When Prince Hamlet receives news of her father's death, she returns from Wittenberg to Helsingør and is disturbed by the immediate marriage between mother and uncle. Convinced of an unnatural father's death, she mimes the deranged to expose her father's murderer. At the request of Polonius and the new ruling couple, Ophelia is supposed to be in a relationship with Hamlet, but she is dismissive and feels drawn to her college friend Horatio, who in turn is interested in Ophelia.

Hamlet's suspicions are confirmed when she lets a group of traveling actors re-enact the suspected murder of King Hamlet: Claudius becomes quick-tempered and ends the performance. Hamlet overhears Claudius admitting his murder in prayer, but does not kill him. On the occasion of an audience with her mother, Hamlet stabs Polonius to death, who had been listening behind a curtain - Claudius is now certain that Hamlet is striving for his life. He sends Hamlet to Norway, accompanied by Rosenkranz and Güldenstern, to have him beheaded by the Norwegian king. Hamlet circumvents the plot by forging the letter, whereupon the two companions die instead.

Together with her college friend, the Norwegian King Fortinbras, Hamlet returns to Helsingør, where Ophelia has just been carried to the grave after she drowned herself in grief. Hamlet meets Claudius at a drinking bout and sets the house on fire; Claudius finds death in the process. Gertrude incites Laertes, who is mourning his sister, to a duel with Hamlet, in which Hamlet is said to die from Laertes' poisoned sword or a poisoned potion. The queen accidentally takes the wrong cup and drinks the poison herself, Hamlet is wounded by Laertes with the poisonous sword and also kills Laertes. When Fortinbras arrives in Helsingør, all he has to do is carry away the dead Hamlet.

Remarks

The film is based on the book The Mystery of Hamlet (1881) by the American Shakespeare researcher Edward P. Vining , who sees a Norwegian legend from the 12th century as the starting point for Shakespeare's Hamlet . According to this legend, Hamlet is actually a woman, from which other aspects of Hamlet's behavior towards his mother, Ophelia and Horatio result. However, some scenes also follow the Shakespeare text. Before Asta Nielsen, Sarah Bernhardt had already accepted the challenge of portraying Hamlet as a female actress .

The buildings are by Svend Gade with Erik Aaes as assistant and Siegfried Wroblewsky , and the film was shot in Goslar . Hugo Baruch and Leopold Verch were responsible for the costume design .

criticism

The film is viewed by critics as a comparatively less successful literary film adaptation , especially due to the numerous subtitles and the theatrical staging. The restrained game of Asta Nielsen, however, finds favor.

literature

  • Eberhard Berger: Hamlet. In: Günther Dahlke, Günter Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginning to 1933. A film guide. 2nd Edition. Henschel-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-89487-009-5 , p. 50 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 14.
  2. ↑ Berger: Hamlet. In: G. Dahlke, G. Karl (Hrsg.): German feature films from the beginning to 1933. 2nd edition. 1993.