Just perfect...

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

A lot of fun.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It can't get better than Hamlet. Maybe the most-quoted English piece of all time, Hamlet is a delicate piece that needs to be done right. In his 1948, black and white, Best Picture-winning Hamlet, Olivier delivered an adaptation that hung close to the letter and spirit of the original source, but didn't dare to fly free. It certainly grasped the mood Shakespeare wanted, but it doesn't take filming freedoms where the text allowed. Certainly, he achieved the most freedom from the stage through the cinematography, most noticeably the unique camera movements imitating the sound of a heartbeat that plays when the dead king's ghost is observed in anyway in the story.Hamlet feels more like a filmed version of the play rather than an adaptation. But at that, it is amazing. The dark presence and tragic undertones grow through Olivier's Oscar-winning lead performance and Jean Simmons's crazed Ophelia. As the narrator states in the beginning of film, "This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind." In the play and film, Hamlet is visited by his father's (the former king of Denmark) ghost, stating that his uncle, now the king, had murdered him. However, Hamlet is unsure what action to follow, for if he murders his uncle, it would be repaying evil with evil. Unfortunately, a mistake causes Hamlet to be exiled to England, but he doesn't give up there, and the story builds up to a climatic ending.Like the play itself, Hamlet offers many questions but doesn't give any straightforward answers. The questions dive deep, and along with Shakespeare's old English, younger viewers might not understand. As with the play, an undercurrent topic of incest plays out, mostly through Hamlet's complaints against his uncle taking his father's widow as his wife. Furthermore, the ending is dramatic and sad – with a lot of dead people.Olivier, who has the skill to drop any obscure line of Shakespeare in a beat, manages to work a scarcely worthy adaptation of the play, despite having to cut many monologues and soliloquies in order to run under 160 minutes. One of the weak points of the film is Olivier's recitation of the famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be." To my disappointment, Olivier rushes through it with melancholy and something short of fake that it doesn't have much dramatic and emotional impact. The play did not have any rule or details that restricted it from emotional freedom, especially as a film. Olivier seems to restrict himself to rules that Shakespeare didn't put or intend. But otherwise, Olivier's Hamlet is extraordinary in its own right. He portrays it in the way Shakespeare might have imagined it – the non-extravagant set pieces, simply choreographed and bloodless duels, and few, select locations for different scenes. For the sources and educational material, Olivier's Hamlet is worth watching, but only for the artistic value of the spirit and letter of Shakespeare.

Hamlet (1948) was directed by Sir Laurence Olivier, and stars Olivier as Hamlet.Olivier's Hamlet was filmed in a studio, rather than on location. This decision gives the movie a somewhat unreal feeling. It's hard to know where you are in Elsinore castle, or what will await you when you turn the next corner. The film has a surreal, ethereal quality. You don't feel you're in a real castle in a real kingdom. This Hamlet has a dream-like sense to it.Olivier the director concentrates on Olivier the actor. If there was ever a "Hamlet's Hamlet," this is it. Sir Laurence must have done something right, because Olivier the actor received an Oscar for his performance. (This was the first of only two movies in which a director directed himself to his own Oscar-winning best actor performance.)Olivier was 41 when he played Hamlet, but he got past this hurdle with his incredible talent, his acting experience, and his lithe, athletic grace. (Eileen Hurlie, who played Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, was only 30 in 1948). The supporting cast is solid. The talented actor Jean Simmons, who played Ophelia as only 19, but nevertheless was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. However, she played the part with heavy stage makeup and a blond wig, and appeared to me to be miscast in the role.Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play. Most directors don't want a four-hour Hamlet, although Kenneth Branagh took this option. Olivier opted for a 155-minute version, so, obviously, the play has been abridged. I think the choices of what scenes to omit was done well, and the movie is definitely recognizable as Shakespeare's Hamlet.We saw the film on a classroom-sized screen, where it worked well. It would do even better in a theater, but will also work on DVD. I don't consider this the best Hamlet I've seen, even though it won the Oscar as Best Picture in 1948. Although Olivier's Hamlet won't be to everyone's taste, it's an essential movie for anyone even moderately interested in film adaptations of Shakespeare's greatest play.

I do like very much like Kenneth Branagh's film especially for Derek Jacobi's Claudius. However, I consider this perhaps the best Hamlet. The first hour or so is a little slow moving I agree, but I had no real problem with the pace generally with everything else so good. The film is incredibly well made for starters with moody lighting, very interesting and well thought out camera angles and sumptuous costumes and settings. The music is resolutely haunting which suits the complex tone of the play and film more than very well. The writing is outstanding though if I have any criticisms I also agree the soliloquies don't quite work out as they could. Olivier's direction is hard to fault and he is brilliant in the title role. He gets strong performances from a fine cast the best being Norman Wooland's Horatio and Jean Simmons' Orphelia. Basil Sidney's Claudius is also very good, but I marginally prefer Jacobi in the role. All in all, may have one or two minor flaws but these don't stop this Hamlet from being one of the better Shakespeare films I've seen. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet" is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's legendary play of the same name. It won the Best Picture Oscar for 1948, becoming the first foreign production to do so.Olivier handled both the title role and the film's directorial duties. His acting performance garnered an Oscar while his direction was rewarded with a nomination. Sure, he might have been a bit old for the role of Hamlet but it's difficult to complain given the strength of his performance.In addition to Olivier, the cast was well-stocked with talented individuals. Jean Simmons (then only 18 years old) was the only other actor to secure an Oscar nomination but Felix Aylmer's entertaining Polonius deserves singling out as well.Olivier's direction wasn't quite on the level of his acting but it's not far off. The film is full of interesting camera movement and visual trickery. The deep focus photography of Desmond Dickinson certainly contributes to the unique visual style while the film's Oscars for its set design and costumes didn't hurt, either. The moody, Oscar-nominated score by William Walton deserves praise as well.Purists may take issue with the film's omissions made for the sake of brevity but I found that even reduced to 155 minutes the story is already vast enough. On its own terms, Olivier's "Hamlet" is a satisfying film and a deserving Best Picture Oscar winner.