Hamlet
Promotional poster
Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark
Directed byFranz Peter Wirth
Screenplay byFranz Peter Wirth
Based onHamlet
by William Shakespeare
Produced byHans Gottschalk
StarringMaximilian Schell
CinematographyKurt Gewissen
Boris Goriup
Hermann Gruber
Rudolf H. Jakob
Edited byAdolf Schlyssleder
Music byRolf Unkel
Release date
  • 1 January 1961 (1961-01-01)
Running time
152 minutes
CountryWest Germany
LanguageGerman

Hamlet (German: Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark, lit. 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark') is a 1961 German mystery drama film directed by Franz Peter Wirth. The screenplay by Wirth is adapted from the William Shakespeare tragedy of the same name.

Release

The film was initially broadcast on television on 1 January 1961 in West Germany before being released theatrically in the United States in 1962.

Plot

Prince Hamlet of Denmark returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle.[1]

Cast

Reception

Bill Gibron, writing for DVD Verdict, said that "In the literary life, you either love Shakespeare or you don't, and the Germans definitely do not. This 1960 television version of the Bard's brainchild is so cold and calculated it's like Berlin in February."[2] FlickFilosopher wrote that "this is a take on Hamlet that could otherwise be construed as cruel and unusual punishment."[3] Kevin Murphy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 wrote, "Leave it to Germany to turn a bleak brooding play into an even bleaker, broodinger movie-of-the-week for German television. This thing, made in the early '60s, has 'we're still really sorry for the war and feel terrible' all over it."[4]

Dub

Hamlet was dubbed into English under the supervision of Edward Dmytryk. Schell provided his own voice: among the other actors used for the dub were Ricardo Montalbán (Claudius) and John Banner (Polonius). This dub was later featured in a season 10[5] episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000,[6] its length cut to fit the show's 92-minute runtime.[4]

References

  1. ↑ MUBI
  2. ↑ Bill Gibron (18 December 2003). "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Volume 4". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  3. ↑ MaryAnn Johanson (17 August 2008). "to be or not to be: Maximilian Schell as Hamlet". FlickFilosopher.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 Kevin Murphy. "Episode 1009- Hamlet - The Amazing Colossal Transplanted Sci-Fi Channel Episode Guide". Satellite News. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  5. ↑ 10 MST3K Movies You Should Watch Without The Riffing - CBR
  6. ↑ Sampo (8 March 2018). "Episode guide: 1009- Hamlet". Satellite News. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
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