A review by Brooks Rich
Welcome to Shakespeare Sunday. Once a week we will be covering at least one film or television adaptation of Shakespeare's works. We will try to have a variety of the plays but let's be honest, most of the really good ones are the big plays. There will be plenty of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, but I'll try to mix it up. One day we'll get a proper adaptation of Timon of Athens, there's an independent film from 2016 called I, Timon that looks decent for being the first adaptation I know about of the play, or Pericles. But for now let's begin with the BBC adaptation of Hamlet from 1980 with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet, Patrick Stewart as Claudius, and Clair Bloom as Gertrude.
Everyone should know the story of Hamlet. The king is dead and his brother has married the queen. The son, Hamlet, is approached by the ghost of his father and told that his uncle has usurped the throne and Hamlet must avenge his father's death. Hamlet cannot act quickly enough and like all good Shakespeare dramas, a bunch of people die.
It's really hard to make a bad adaptation of Hamlet because it's one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. The main thing is to get the best actor possible for the role of Hamlet. I imagine Prince Hamlet is one of the most difficult roles for an actor and here Derek Jacobi is fantastic as the title role. He plays the crazy Hamlet and oh my God is he insane in this movie. Usually Hamlet gets crazy as the play goes on but here Jacobi starts him at 9 and just keeps the crazy going. It totally works as Patrick Stewart and Clair Bloom play Claudius and Gertrude respectively as calm, cool, and collected.
I don't have much to say about the filmmaking as this is more of a filmed stage play with a large budget but that is what I love about it. It just lets the play be the play. It's the whole play which also doesn't always happen. Only ones I can think of right now is this one and Kenneth Branagh's but I much prefer this one as I love Jacobi and Stewart in their roles and Branagh is playing Kenneth Branagh playing Hamlet. This will be the only BBC version from the late '70s and '80s I cover as the rest are just ok. Jacobi and Stewart elevate this one, especially Jacobi. This is worth it for his performance alone. . Check it out if you haven't.
Welcome to Shakespeare Sunday. Once a week we will be covering at least one film or television adaptation of Shakespeare's works. We will try to have a variety of the plays but let's be honest, most of the really good ones are the big plays. There will be plenty of Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, but I'll try to mix it up. One day we'll get a proper adaptation of Timon of Athens, there's an independent film from 2016 called I, Timon that looks decent for being the first adaptation I know about of the play, or Pericles. But for now let's begin with the BBC adaptation of Hamlet from 1980 with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet, Patrick Stewart as Claudius, and Clair Bloom as Gertrude.
Everyone should know the story of Hamlet. The king is dead and his brother has married the queen. The son, Hamlet, is approached by the ghost of his father and told that his uncle has usurped the throne and Hamlet must avenge his father's death. Hamlet cannot act quickly enough and like all good Shakespeare dramas, a bunch of people die.
It's really hard to make a bad adaptation of Hamlet because it's one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written. The main thing is to get the best actor possible for the role of Hamlet. I imagine Prince Hamlet is one of the most difficult roles for an actor and here Derek Jacobi is fantastic as the title role. He plays the crazy Hamlet and oh my God is he insane in this movie. Usually Hamlet gets crazy as the play goes on but here Jacobi starts him at 9 and just keeps the crazy going. It totally works as Patrick Stewart and Clair Bloom play Claudius and Gertrude respectively as calm, cool, and collected.
I don't have much to say about the filmmaking as this is more of a filmed stage play with a large budget but that is what I love about it. It just lets the play be the play. It's the whole play which also doesn't always happen. Only ones I can think of right now is this one and Kenneth Branagh's but I much prefer this one as I love Jacobi and Stewart in their roles and Branagh is playing Kenneth Branagh playing Hamlet. This will be the only BBC version from the late '70s and '80s I cover as the rest are just ok. Jacobi and Stewart elevate this one, especially Jacobi. This is worth it for his performance alone. . Check it out if you haven't.
Comments
Post a Comment