Hamlet (1996)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play)
Kenneth Branagh (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

Plot Keywords:

Madness | Denmark | Revenge | Murder | Love

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Riz Abbasi	...	Attendant to Claudius
Richard Attenborough	...	English Ambassador
David Blair	...	Attendant to Claudius
Brian Blessed	...	Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Kenneth Branagh	...	Hamlet
Richard Briers	...	Polonius
Michael Bryant	...	Priest
Peter Bygott	...	Attendant to Claudius
Julie Christie	...	Gertrude
Billy Crystal	...	First Gravedigger
Charles Daish	...	Stage Manager
Judi Dench	...	Hecuba
Gérard Depardieu	...	Reynaldo
Reece Dinsdale	...	Guildenstern
Ken Dodd	...	Yorick

Also Known As:

William Shakespeare's Hamlet (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images and sexuality.

Runtime:

242 min | 150 min (cut version)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (35 mm prints) | SDDS (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Netherlands:6 | Netherlands:AL (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:12 (bw) | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

Kate Winslet (Ophelia), learned on the day that she had to shoot the straitjacket scene that she had just been given the role of Rose in Titanic (1997).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Ophelia blinks as she is being buried.

Quotes:

Hamlet: O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Mighty Boosh: Bollo (#1.3)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

In Pace

P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N

It's hard to say anything about a movie like this because there isn't enough words to give this magnificent, stylish and unique film the veneration it unquestionably deserves. They should make this the official and only true real Hamlet -movie because all the previous films out of the same immortal spectacle are being overshadowed by Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet".

It's a perfect, complete version of the play, potent, massive, earthshaking first-class masterpiece Shakespeare would have been proud of. They've packed over a dozen of world-famous top actors in the same film and everyone of them is having one of the greatest performances of their career. Every moving and charming sequence leaves behind a comprehensive sense of satisfaction.

The cameras embrace gracefully the enchanting coulisses. Branagh is phenomenal in the leading role. His sharp, irresistible performance is the only one of it's kind and will be permanently part of the glorious movie history. Every second in this presentation is feast for the movie lover from beginning to the very end. Branagh's version of "Hamlet" is among the ten best motion pictures ever.