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Hamlet (1996) Considering the current stream of projects derived from his works, William Shakespeare is probably being endlessly sought after for meetings in Hollywood. With the likes of Ian McKellen's 1930s/rise-of-fascism Richard III and Baz Luhrmann's hip-hop Tarantino-inspired Romeo + Juliet doing their best to hack 1990s movies out of Shakespeare's sexier plays, Kenneth Branagh might seem to be wilfully perverse in his Hamlet, opting to present the entire text of the Bard's most-performed, most-discussed (and most-filmed) work. The earth seems barely to have settled on Mel Gibson's 1990 gloom-in-the-castle reading of the play, and Branagh also - as with his Henry V - has to compete with memories of a Lawrence Olivier self-directed star vehicle. And that's not even counting an available-on-video TV version with Richard Burton, the Finnish funny Hamlet Goes Business, the Canadian knockabout comedy Strange Brew or the spaghetti Western Johnny Hamlet - Johnny comes back from the Civil War and finds his uncle has taken over the ranch - and jokes on the theme from Mel Brooks (To Be or Not to Be) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Last Action Hero). With all this competition, you think Branagh, having progressed from his Henry to Much Ado About Nothing, might go for The Winter's Tale or Timon of Athens. But no. Hamlet it must be and Hamlet it is, the cornerstone of a theatrical career for anyone from Henry Irving and John Barrymore onwards who must claim a place among the thespic immortals. There has been a certain amount of sneering that Branagh should win an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in that he has set out to perform the least adaptation on the text, but actually this turns out to be the single strongest suit of his film. Compared with the Reader's Digest approaches of most recent Shakespearean films, Branagh's Hamlet at least retains the complexity of the original, and affords so many plum parts for cannily-cast guest stars that Branagh's fine but deeply traditional Prince doesn't have to carry the load by himself. The recent Richard III was very obviously adapted by the star himself, with everyone else's parts pruned to stooge level. Branagh takes risks by pitting himself not only against accomplished scene-stealers like Jack Lemmon (Marcellus), Brian Blessed (Ghost), Billy Crystal (Grave-Digger), Charlton Heston (the Player King) and Robin Williams (Osric) but real heavyweights in the other major roles. Derek Jacobi, once a great Hamlet himself, is a superbly scheming Claudius, at once a plausible king and an effective villain. Julie Christie's Gertrude practically reestablishes her as a first-rate screen actress. And Richard Briers's Polonius benefits most from the restoration of usually-cut scenes, appearing as a manipulative assistant villain rather than the usual huffing clod. If Kate Winslet is lost as Ophelia, the role is probably unplayable in the 20th Century, and one might question the need to insert illustrative flashbacks with John Gielgud, Judi Dench or (as Yorick) Ken Dodd, but Branagh is probably just trying to break up the wordiness of the play. It would actually be a relief to see a modern Shakespeare film played in doublet and hose, but Hamlet goes for a 19th Century setting, and fills the screen with decor and costume much after the fashion of those dreadful pop history movies (Cromwell, Waterloo, Nicholas and Alexandra) that were the school trip commonplaces of the early 1970s. Branagh, looking lithe and dashing with a blonde buzz-cut and tight black uniforms, holds centre stage, but remains in the Richard Attenborough School of Demonstrative Directors (he's in it too, as the English Ambassador who turns up at the final curtain like Janet Webb used to on The Morecambe and Wise Show). Everything is sumptuous and emphatic, addressed to the gallery, which has the advantage of elevating the lesser-known gems of the play to the attention - when Hamlet turns into a director and starts ordering Charlton Heston around, the levels of irony pile up like rugs - while it perhaps makes the greatest hits - 'to be or, um, er ...' - feel a little like throwaways. Yes, it is too long. Yes, it is obvious. But Hamlet can
take it, and there's so much great stuff here that it's hard not to
be grateful. First Published In: Ham&High (issue unknown) Visit Kim's Official Website at www.johnnyalucard.com
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