Product Description

Considered by many the finest screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest work, Grigori Kozintsev’s HAMLET is a spare, haunting interpretation based on a translation by novelist Boris Pasternak. The malevolence afoot in the state of Denmark is magnificently captured by the foreboding black and white cinematography and the dark, dramatic score by composer Dmitri Shostakovich. In addition, acclaimed Russian actors Innokenti Smoktunovsky and Anastasia Vertinskaya offer stellar, award-winning performances. Kozintsev, a peer of Eisenstein’s who worked well into the 1960s, was a master of cinematic technique who finally achieved recognition at the end of his career for his stunning interpretations of Shakespeare. Leading film historian Richard Dyer wrote in the Boston Globe: "Paradoxically, the two most powerful films of Shakespeare plays [HAMLET and KING LEAR] were made not in Great Britain but in the Soviet Union."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26417 in DVD
• Brand: FACETS HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 140 minutes

Features

• Stunning locations and music highlight Grigori Kozintsev's spare, haunting adaptation of the Bard'sic, based on a translation by novelist Boris Pasternak. Stars Innokenti Smoktunovsky as Hamlet. In Russian with English subtitles. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN Rating: NR Age: 736899090425 UPC: 736899090425 Manufacturer No: DV86928

Customer Reviews

Greatest Hamlet
I do not say this lightly. The visual language is unforgettable: the crashing waves, the jagged cliffs, the colossal menacing castle, and amidst it the supreme elegance of Hamlet. Kozintsev is a master of black-and-white. This film has to be in black-and-white. The shades of gray need to be there: the alternately glittering and raging grays of the waves, the mysterious grays of the rock, the deadening gray of the castle, and the slender figure of Hamlet in stark black-and-white contrasted against them. The score by Shostakovitch is shatteringly intense, and it too has to be this way.

Innokenti Smoktunovski was considered one of the greatest actors in the Soviet Union, and it is easy to see why. His voice is awesome. He moves stupendously. At one level, it is attractive and sexy. At another level, it visualizes the fragility, dignity, and beauty of a human being. The scene of Hamlet dying by the sea--a lone figure leaning languidly against the rock--is one of the most haunting images in film.

Directors and actors too often do `Hamlet' clearly in relation to other `Hamlets', so much so that it can become a bit of a pissing contest--who can do a more fiery or provocative (or popular) version. This Hamlet is free from such baggage. Its authors start from first principles. They focus on creating a work of art in the medium of film. They use the possibilities of film, but the medium never drives the message. Everything--the sets, the close-ups, the camera angles--is there only for artistic expression.

A great work of art is deeply transformative, and this film is.

By far the best screen adaptation.
From the first scenes, implicitly conveying the fact of the royal death, and Claudius' monolog, split between a herald reading a decree at a town square, courtiers repeating "in equal scale weighing delight and dole" and foreign ambassadors echoing them in their respective languages, and finally the king himself addressing his advisors - you know you are watching a work of a master. Of the three most popular screen adaptations, the classic Olivier's, the roaring Mel Gibson's and the Kenneth Branagh's parody, none is even close to this one. The excellent set and costumes, great acting, outstanding dark, gothic-like black-and-white camera work, Shostakovich's music - everything tells of a masterpiece. Of course, limitations of a screen play are obvious - lots of great lines omitted, added scenes (such as Hamlet on his way to England forging the king's letter, which was borrowed later by Tom Stoppard for his Rozenkrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead) - but it's the ultimate screen play nonetheless.

Why buy this...?
I just recently picked up this DVD from my local public library, and for once I was glad I did. If you purchase one of these, you'll be stuck with this banal, generic ad that plays at the beginning. ("Ever feel like you're in a Jim Jarmusch picture?") Also, I noticed that this version uses fewer subtitles than the European DVD, and some of Shakespeare's best lines are thrown out. But the film itself cannot be faulted for anything. It puts similar attempts at adaptation by Branagh, Zeffirelli, Olivier, and even Welles to shame. This is the only Shakespeare film I've seen where I can point to any scene and say, "THAT's the way it happens in the play"--especially the disinterment of Yorick's skull. See it if you haven't, but be sure you've read the play first, because for all its strengths. this is no substitute for the text of Old Bill.