Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1980) (TV)

Director:

Rodney Bennett

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

10 November 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Hamlet comes home from university to find his uncle married to his mother, and his father's ghost haunting the battlements and scaring the watch...

Plot Keywords:

William Shakespeare | Shakespeare's Hamlet | Based On Play | Character Name In Title

Cast

Derek Jacobi	...	Hamlet
Claire Bloom	...	Gertrude
Patrick Stewart	...	Claudius
Eric Porter	...	Polonius
Lalla Ward	...	Ophelia
David Robb	...	Laertes
Patrick Allen	...	Ghost of Hamlet's Father
Robert Swann	...	Horatio
Jonathan Hyde	...	Rosencrantz
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Guildenstern
Emrys James	...	First Player (King)
Jason Kemp	...	Second Player (Queen)
Geoffrey Beevers	...	Third Player (Lucianus)
Bill Homewood	...	Player in the mime, King
Peter Richard	...	Player in the mime, Queen

Also Known As:

Hamlet
The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

USA:210 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Derek Jacobi, who plays Hamlet, was Claudius in Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet (1996).

Movie Connections:

Version of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1997)

I can't really join the general enthusiasm...

After watching the excellent Derek Jacobi truly become the definitive interpretation of Claudius in Kenneth Branagh's otherwise awful "Hamlet" from 1996, naturally I salivated upon the possibility of watching the great man's take on the Melancholy Dane himself. So, maybe I'm a victim of high expectations, but I must say I was quite disappointed with this version.

As the whole "Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare" BBC series is, this is pretty much a filmed stage play, for better or worse. And, as such, it relies solely on acting. Now I won't say Jacobi's performance was bad, but what it was is very theatrical and, as a result, not natural. Sir Derek appears to perform as if he was on stage, and maybe he'll be great on stage, but he should have toned down his antics for the screen and rely more on his eyes and face and less on his voice tone. His pretty much "I don't care" approach to Hamlet (meaning Hamlet is the one who doesn't care, not Jacobi) didn't work too well for me. He delivers his lines like "anything goes", and, even sadder, he sometimes achieves to impress in some moments, most notably in the beginning of some speeches (he NAILS the first lines of "Now might I do it pat, now he is praying" and "Alas, poor Yorick"), just to rapidly submerge himself in apparent in-character indifference again. At least, that's the impression he left on me.

Ironically enough, the performance I like the most from this version is Patrick Stewart's Claudius. I say ironically because, at first, he seems miscast: not only, as others have commented upon, he is too regal, but he's also too obviously serpentine and you could very well read pure evil in his eyes most of the time. Yet, despite this, he manages to get a complex and well-balanced version of the character. His "O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven" speech is no doubt the highlight of this production. Still not as good as Jacobi in 1996, but fine nonetheless. Honorable mention goes to David Robb's above average Laertes, greatly relying on facial expressions much unlike the rest of the cast. You believe his pain in losing his father and sister is genuine.

On the other hand, Eric Porter makes an unusually dull and colorless Polonius, draining all the fun out of the character (so far, the best Polonius I have seen is Ian Holm in the Zeffirelli mediocrity), and the worst offender is the just plain unwatchable First Gravedigger. The rest of the cast is decent (even Lalla Ward's much criticized Ophelia) but they fail to leave a lasting impression.

Overall, this is not a bad production (certainly superior to both Branagh and Zeffirelli), but it feels like a victim of over-reverence to the play, avoiding further fleshing out the characters by being playful. Still, this is better than being playful in the wrong way and miserably failing (reading this, Kenneth?). 6/10.