Shakespeare Fans discussion
Favorite Version of Hamlet?
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Molly
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Oct 17, 2011 09:32AM
What is your favorite movie version of Hamlet and why?
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David Tennant version, hands down. He really made a wonderful Hamlet. Brought so much to the role, and even managed to make the character a little funny and possibly a little mad and truly showed that unending devotion Hamlet has for his father (a little too much actually).
The Tennant version is first rate. And I still harbor feelings of shock and awe for Branagh's version: it is so over the top, and Branagh plays it instinctively. I never get tired of his performance.
I haven't seen the Tennant version, so can't compare, but I loved Rory Kinnear's Hamlet. Though there were some things in the production, such as Ophelia's death I didn't care for.The quirkiest Hamlet I've seen was a version in Macedonian in Colchester, Essex. For some reason it started with the guards stark naked, despite "'tis bitter cold'". And we saw Ophelia drown on stage, splashing about in a see-through plastic bath in lieu of "weeping brook".
Tennant and Branagh tied. Tennant's was the first time I actually truly liked the Hamlet character. Branagh's because, well because it had Frontibras in it.
'the first time I actually truly liked the Hamlet character'...get me out of this group!!
Another vote for David Tennant. As other people have said, genuinely funny and frighteningly mad. Even though I'm a big Doctor Who fan, I was highly suspicious of a transition to Hamlet. I needn't have been: I didn't even recognize him in his first scene, and later, when he began to remind me of the Doctor, that's because the Doctor and Hamlet have characteristics in common. A high-energy mania, for instance, that exits in wit and also in crazy-talk.
Okay you fans, but let's not forget (Barbara needs no reminding), that Hamlet is a stage play. I myself have never really taken to cinematized Shakespeare.Ciprian, welcome here. I hope you don't really mean "get me out of this group!"
(And welcome others.)
Mod
I think I just like Hamlet!
Haven't seen the Tennant...the Branagh was first rate if a bit over the top with the sex - yeah, film's gotta have it. Have seen a number of live productions but none so memorable as Branagh's.But there is another way to look at this topic which is the best edited version and for me that's Harold Jenkins' Arden second series version. A competitor called this "magisterial" and he was right! Jenkins makes establishing the text of this play an adventure; it is not only an amazing account as a Shakespeare edition but one of the best pieces of academic literature I've ever read.
Steve, yes I agree, the Jenkins edition is outstanding.I find it a laugh that the Arden series advertise their editions as "definitive" and yet feel they need to be completely revised every twenty years or so. The revisions are partly a result of a better, or changed, understanding of the plays, but also they keep the series spinning and find jobs for younger academics. The result is the Jenkins edition is already "last year's" and the shops carry something much inferior. Generally, the new Ardens tend to be flashier -- pics of Helen Mirren in costume etc. Similar remarks for Kermode's Tempest.
Thanks for that Martin...Yeah I reckon - and the Kermode for me was a landmark; I've "reviewed" it on my bookshelf ha...it made me sort of buy Arden exclusively for a while, but the imprint has had a few owners in the relatively recent past and it's shown in various ways. I haven't read the one that replaced Jenkins. Some of the other series lifted their game but it's a pig in a poke really - some are excellent and others, not so hot. The last Troilus and Cressida I saw in Arden was pretty good, and while I thought she was too feminist, I enjoyed Duncan-Jones' sonnets too. These editions do matter, according to me.
Steve -- great. I'm off to read your reviews.
