Did you ever notice how Laurence Olivier never looks to camera when he speaks in this film? Even during the most potent of his soliloquies, he always manages to avoid any direct eye contact with the audience! His "Hamlet", here, though, is the definitive representation of this troubled Shakespearian character and combined with an excellently selected cast, we are presented with quite a compelling 2½ hours of tautly directed and gloriously eerily lit tragic drama. His father has been slain and his mother "Gertrude" (Eileen Herlie) has remarried his brother, now the king, "Claudius" (Basil Sydn...
Hamlet
1948
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2h 33m
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Drama
MOVIEVIBE Rating
★ 7.4/10
300 reviews
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Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
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Top Billed Cast
Laurence Olivier
Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost
Basil Sydney
Claudius - The King
Eileen Herlie
Gertrude - The Queen
Norman Wooland
Horatio - His Friend
Felix Aylmer
Polonius - Lord Chamberlain
Jean Simmons
Ophelia
Terence Morgan
Laertes
Peter Cushing
Osric
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2024-02-04