Watch Hamlet For Free

One of my all time favorites.

best movie i've ever seen.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Portrayals of Hamlet always seem to provoke a personal response that stimulates vocabulary and reflection, without addressing the central dilemma of the tragedy; a reflection perhaps of the powerful influence of the central character who imposes his contemplative posturing on his reviewers as he does on stage and in film.Widely regarded as the greatest play of the greatest writer in the English language, it is easy to understand why Hollywood stars turn to Hamlet for proof of their status as serious actors. Yet, to be a success in a film or television version requires so much more than the boyish good looks of a Richard Chamberlain (1970), the Max Max certainty of Mel Gibson (1990) or even the studied intensity of Laurence Olivier (1948).In Nicol Williamson we find a temperamental, anti-establishment, questioning actor who is at his very best in Hamlet (1969). Perhaps he understood more than any other actor of the modern era why Hamlet says what he says, doesn't do what he doesn't do and finally does what he does.No English play has produced so many commentaries or provoked so much analysis as Hamlet. Like the Mona Lisa's smile, there is an essential attraction in the enigma which defies casual analysis. As a child, it took me a long time to appreciate my father's gentle humour in passing the twin verdicts that "It wasn't written by Shakespeare but by someone else with the same name" and "Hamlet is alright, but it is full of quotes".Nicol Williamson's genius is evident not only in the set-piece soliloquies that illustrate countless anthologies, but in the minor gestures and less-well-known asides that give such depth and perspective on Hamlet. Just as you might check a new dictionary to see if the definition of "rant" is superior to Dr Johnson's "high sounding language unsupported by dignity of thought" (1755), you might see a performance of Hamlet and note how the actor handles the intonation of "except my life, except my life, except my life". Not even the sweet steam radio voice of John Gielgud (1948) or the majestic splendour of Richard Burton (1964) can match the intoned pathos of Nicol Williamson.Team GB's recent successes in achieving 7 of the 10 gold medals available for track cycling at the London 2012 Olympics have been ascribed to coach Dave Brailsford's obsession with successive minor improvements in what has become known as a "doctrine of marginal gains". When comparing Nicol Williamson's performance to his predecessors, we find that our Scottish-born actor from Birmingham demonstrates a marked marginal gain in almost every scene.If Tony Richardson's direction is unduly restrictive in putting Nicol Williamson in sharp close up lying down in bed for most of the "To be or not to be" speech, he surely cannot be faulted further for bringing out fine performances from Gordon Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Roger Liversy and Marianne Faithful.The reviews expressed on this website vary from the "Absolutely Horrific" of 20 March 2000 from "Movie Fan from Tennessee" to "highly recommend this movie" of 2 September 2001 from "Denise from Ohio". Every viewer will have a personal response and quite rightly so; but for me, this is the best ever film version of Hamlet. It preserves the mystery, illustrates the history, vivifies the comedy and reveals magnificently the Tragedy of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.

I saw this production at the Round House in London, when Nicol Willianson (who destroyed his career by his undisciplined waywardness) was a hot property. The film of that production cuts Shakespeare's original by more than half, yet what survives IS 'Hamlet'. Williamson is a sardonic Prince, masochistically ready to condemn his irresolution, but his performance has a breathtaking urgency. Judy Parfitt's Gertrude and Mark Dignam's Polonius could hardly be bettered and Gordon Jackson's bespectacled Horatio is to my mind his best performance. Marianne Faithful is an endearingly vulnerable Ophelia, Michael Pennington an impassioned Laertes, and though far too young Anthony Hopkins has many fine moments as Claudius. Roger Livesey does a lovely double act as the First Player and Gravedigger, there never were a creepier Rosencrantz and Guidenstern than Ben Aris and Clive Graham and Peter Gale is a splendidly camp Osric. Tony Richardson races through the play with considerable intelligence and ingenuity. 'A hit - a palpable hit'!

Released shortly after Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET, this was advertised as "The Love Story of Hamlet and Ophelia." Well, HAMLET is about a lot of things, but it ain't about the love between Hamlet and Ophelia. More apt is the other tag line: A HAMLET of our time, for our time," because this HAMLET is very much rooted in the late 1960s counter-culture. The actors seem just about to make love in every scene, except for Williamson, who plays Hamlet like a pedantic grad student -- his first speech to Gertrude sounds like he's grading a freshman essay.Despite this, and despite the fact that Williamson, though about the same age as Parfitt (Gertrude) and Hopkins (Claudius) looks older, there are some worthwhile readings here and there, a couple of good ideas, and I have never seen Rosecrantz and Guildenstern shown more obtrusively -- like obnoxious frat brothers at a wedding. For HAMLET completest, this is worth seeking out.

Works better on the screen than the other filmed stage productions - Kline's, Olivier's, Burton's. As others have said, very fast, staccato - even time-compressed - disconcerting extreme close-ups. Williamson at 31 isn't really too old for the mysterious prince, but somehow he looks it. Anthony Hopkins' Claudius seems apathetic, a choice I don't understand. Ophelia is pretty despite painfully dated 60s makeup, but she's also reduced to a 60s type of female - sort of knocked-on-the-head accepting smilingness through whatever storms go one around her. bleah! Gertrude is a 60s evil queen, sensual, but unsexed -- a la Snow White. argh! Horatio is much more out of place than Hamlet, much older, almost doddering in his scholarly spectacles. Interesting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - very intrusive. Hamlet v. combative. Soliloquies to the camera, a frank style I like better than voice-overs -- the actor never does much during voice-over soliloquies, so you're staring at an unmoving close-up for endless minutes. The style of direction is uneven, but perhaps purposed - sometimes alienating as in the quick back and forth cuts between two speakers, sometimes captivating as in the almost candid, home-video style of the camera movements in the soliloquies. Curiously even in the characters I don't like (Ophelia, Gertrude) the interpretive decisions are well made and intelligently, though the style is off-putting. I long for a meatier Claudius, but Hamlet should care more about the women anyway - but then we should have a meatier Ophelia. I wonder if Hamlet shouldn't be most sane when he seems mad and most mad when he seems deadly sane. Or when he thinks he is. Laertes a fool with mutton-chops. ugh!