Hamlet (1948)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Hamlet |
| Original title | Hamlet |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 150 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Laurence Olivier |
| script | Alan Dent |
| production | Laurence Olivier |
| music | William Walton |
| camera | Desmond Dickinson |
| cut | Helga Cranston |
| occupation | |
| |
Hamlet is a British film adaptation of the 1948 tragedy of the same name by William Shakespeare. Laurence Olivier has appeared as director, producer and leading actor. It is the first non-US film to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
action
On the battlements of Elsinor Castle, the royal residence of the Danish monarchs, two security guards have an apparition of the old King Hamlet. Horatio, a friend of the current Prince Hamlet, arrives and asks the ghost to speak, but the ghost disappears without a word.
The old King Hamlet died under mysterious circumstances. After a month's mourning, his wife Gertrude marries the king's brother Claudius. Prince Hamlet stays away from the wedding ceremony. He is angry about the hasty wedding. Horatio comes over and tells of the father's apparition. As Hamlet climbs onto the battlements, he sees his father's ghost. The ghost beckons him over and the prince follows him up the tower. The spirit reveals itself to him as the spirit of his father. He tells the prince that he was murdered, who committed the murder and how the murder happened. Claudius trickled poison into the king's ear. At first, Hamlet doesn't want to believe it's true. To put Claudius to the test, Hamlet tries to fake madness. The deception works with Polonius. He brings the matter to Claudius - on the grounds that Hamlet's madness is the result of his love for Polonius' daughter Ophelia. Polonius is to arrange a meeting between Ophelia and Hamlet. Hamlet is insane and Claudius is now fully convinced.
Hamlet hires a group of stage actors. You are supposed to perform the play The Murder of Gonzago for the king . Hamlet makes a few changes to the play so that it resembles the circumstances of King Hamlet's murder. Claudius complains about poor visibility and leaves the show. This convinces Hamlet of his guilt. Hamlet goes to Claudius to kill him, but Claudius is praying. Hamlet is waiting for the right time. He informs Gertrude about the death of the king. He hears a voice from the tapestry and thinks Claudius is listening. Hamlet draws his dagger and stabs the curtain. But instead of Claudius, Polonius falls dead to the ground. Hamlet is unimpressed and continues to talk to his mother. Again Hamlet sees his father's ghost. He starts talking to him. His mother cannot see the ghost and now believes in Hamlet's insanity.
Hamlet is banished to England by Claudius. On Claudius' orders, he should be murdered there as soon as he arrives. Hamlet's ship is attacked by pirates. He returns to Denmark. In the meantime, Ophelia is desperate about Hamlet's departure, so she decides to commit suicide. Her brother Laertes should punish her death and the death of her father. Laertes and Claudius hear of Hamlet's return and want to kill him. It should look like an accident. On Claudius' orders, Laertes is to challenge Hamlet to a duel, using a poisoned sword with which he only has to scratch Hamlet to make him die. If Laertes can't meet Hamlet, Claudius wants to kill him with a poisonous potion.
Hamlet accepts the challenge. He wins the first two rounds. Gertrude suspects that Hamlet's goblet is poisoned and drinks it up. Laertes harasses Hamlet and wounds his arm. The unsuspecting Hamlet fights on and disarms Laertes. He swaps weapons and wounds Laertes. Gertrude warns Hamlet about the poisoned drink. The dying Laertes reveals the whole plot. Hamlet kills Claudius in anger and then dies too. Horatio, terrified, has Hamlet properly buried. The prince's corpse is removed while the castle's cannons fire a salute.
background
Laurence Olivier was 41 years old at the time of filming. His mother's actress, Eileen Herlie, was only 28. In contrast to other Hamlet films made by large film studios, the roles of Rosenkranz and Güldenstern and Fortinbras were dispensed with.
The film was released in German cinemas in November 1948. On July 3, 1959, it was also published in the GDR .
criticism
According to the film service , one sees a Shakespeare adaptation "in a version that impresses with the balanced combination of stage stylization and cinematic preparation of the plot". It is a "version set in a monumental, oppressively photographed setting" that is "fascinating in terms of presentation and interesting in its psychoanalytic interpretation". However, the film-dienst also noted that “this interpretation does not necessarily show some idiosyncrasies that correspond to the original”. The final conclusion was: “Artistically one of the most daring and imposing adaptations of the material.” According to Cinema , Oliviers Hamlet offers “an unusual interpretation of the drama about the young Danish prince” and is a “[m] masterful Shakespeare film”.
As a director, Olivier said he wanted to "set a nuanced chamber playing tone against the meaningful simplicity of the buildings". However, in the opinion of the critics, he was unable to achieve this goal: "The monumental stylization of the buildings influences the entire staging - it became static and pathetic."
Awards
At the Oscar ceremony in 1949 , the film was in the categories of Best Film , Best Actor (Laurence Olivier), Best Costume Design ( Roger K. Furse ) and Best Art Direction (Roger K. Furse, Carmen Dillon ) with the Oscar awarded. The film was also nominated in the categories of Best Director , Best Supporting Actress (Jean Simmons), and Best Score ( William Walton ).
Hamlet was awarded the Golden Globe in the categories of Best Foreign Film and Best Actor - Drama (Olivier) . As the best film , the Shakespeare adaptation was able to assert itself against the competition at the presentation of the British Academy Film Awards in 1949 , where it was also nominated in the category Best British Film .
Olivier also received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival . There Jean Simmons was honored with the Coppa Volpi as Best Actress and Desmond Dickinson's camerawork was also given an award.
German version
The German dubbed version was created in 1949 in the Eagle-Lion-Synchron-Atelier in Hamburg . The dialogue book was written by CW Burg , who also directed the dubbing.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | Laurence Olivier | Peter Lühr |
| king | Basil Sydney | Rudolf Reif |
| Ophelia | Jean Simmons | Antje Weisgerber |
| Marcellus | Anthony Quayle | Gerhard Just |
| Polonius | Felix Aylmer | Heinz Burkhardt |
| Osric | Peter Cushing | Harald Wolff |
| Bernardo | Esmond Knight | Tadzio Kondziella |
| Francisco | John Laurie | Will-Jo Bach |
| Gertrude | Eileen Herlie | Eva Vaitl |
| Horatio | Norman Wooland | Wolfgang Eichberger |
| Laertes | Terence Morgan | Benno Sterzenbach |
DVD release
- Hamlet . Power Station 2007 (contains only the German dubbed version)
- Hamlet . ITV 2003 (contains only the original English version)
Blu-ray release
- Hamlet . ITV Studios 2011 (picture 4: 3, 1.33: 1 [1920x1080] b / w; language German, English; subtitles German)
Soundtrack
- William Walton : Hamlet - A Shakespeare Scenario in Nine Movements for Large Orchestra . On: Walton: As You Like It Hamlet. Adapted by Christopher Palmer After the Film Scores . Naxos / HNH, Munich-Unterhaching 1999, sound carrier no. 8.553344 - digital new recording by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Penny
literature
- Anthony Davies: Filming Shakespeare's Plays. The Adaptations of Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook, and Akira Kurosawa . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990, ISBN 0-52139913-0
- Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclam's film guide. 7th edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-15-010205-7 , p. 243
- Hans-Jürgen Kubiak: The Oscar Films. The best films from 1927/1928 to 2004. The best non-English language films from 1947 to 2004. The best animated films from 2001 to 2004 . Schüren, Marburg 2005, ISBN 3-89472-386-6
- William Shakespeare : Hamlet. Drama. ( Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark ) Translated by August Wilhelm Schlegel . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-596-90034-3
- Nives Sunara: Again and again Hamlet. Shakespeare's tragedy in the film - always different . Studies in English literature and linguistics, 22. Zugl. Diss. Phil. Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier WVT, Trier 2004, ISBN 3-88476-699-6
- Lawrence Guntner: Microcosm of Art: "Hamlet (1948)". Fischer film history. 3, 1945 - 1960. Ed. Werner Faulstich , Helmut Korte. Fischer TB, Frankfurt 1990, pp. 102-125
Web links
- Hamlet in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hamlet at rotten tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hamlet. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 17, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ^ Dieter Krusche, Jürgen Labenski : Reclams film guide. 7th edition, Reclam, Stuttgart 1987, p. 243.
- ↑ See synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
