Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

1961
2.7| 2h32m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 25 December 1961 Released
Producted By: Bavaria Film
Country: Germany
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

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

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Director

Franz Peter Wirth

Production Companies

Bavaria Film

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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Audience Reviews

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.
RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
otisfirefly2001 I am only going to comment on the Mystery science theater 3000 version.How could this ever be saved? In a movie that is obviously shot on one movie set(no attempt is really made to give the impression of location changes). Not even Mike and the 'bots could save this garbage. The movie is so horrible, and bad that their jokes just fall flat. Though I do enjoy some of the lines, such as Servo remarking, "What's worse then clowns? Danish clowns." I feel that the only way this movie is watchable is on MST3K. And not even they could save this trash. Do yourself a favor and skip this one. Try another MST3K episode Like Puma Man; Jack Frost; Overdrawn At the Memory Bank; Space Mutiny. there are tons of other great episodes then this one. Why they chose to put this episode on DVD is beyond me.
Shannon ** Possible spoilers ahead **I saw this movie only through the aid of Mike and the bots from Mystery Science Theater 3000 a.k.a MST3K. I am a fan of Shakespeare. I've read "Hamlet" a few times. This is the fourth film version of Hamlet I've seen, and it is the worst. The Mel Gibson and Laurence Olivier versions are just breathtakingly wonderful. Branagh's version is slightly tolerable (watch Branagh's "Henry V" instead). This 1960 version just absolutely reeks of badness.Not only is Shakespeare rolling in his grave but Laurence Olivier is probably rolling in his, too, and I don't blame them. There is just one scene with about 10 props and that's it. I loved the riffs from MST3K such as "Hamlet-Man," and "the famous rap artist, the notorious K.I.N.G." Oh, and this movie is very poorly dubbed into English. The filmmakers and directors of this sad, sad, film version of Hamlet are all Laurence Olivier wanna-bees. It was blatanly obvious that they were copying Olivier's film techniques from his version of Shakespeare's tragedy. Here's some advice for future filmmakers (especially those who want to bring Shakespeare to the big screen): NEVER, and I mean NEVER try to copy filmmaking techniques from older, classic films and try to make them breathtaking. It will never work.My hats off to MST3K for making this film tolerable.
Scott Yay!... I think. It's hard to say. It's hard to have an emotion about a movie that has no emotion. This movie is as sterile as a surgeon's scalpel. For a setting, it has a few stone pillars, some stone seats, a couple stone crosses and some stone actors. They have no emotion! The only thing that saves this movie is the fact that it is Hamlet, and Hamlet is a terrificly written piece of literature. The dubbing really wasn't all that bad though. The voices stuck true to the dull, gloomy, dreary, life-sucking atmosphere the movie gave forth. I have seen this version of Hamlet on the fabulous Mystery Science Theater 3000 three times, and each of the three times, I was on the brink of turning off the TV, despite it being MST 3K. Not an uplifting production of a drama that deserves so much better.
divaclv Here we have undeniable proof that even the best material cannot save a shoddy, poorly-mounted production. Yeah, I know Hamlet is supposed to be a pretty bleak story about death, vengance, madness, and all those other wonderful things that spice up life. But this dreary, depressing piece of German Existentialism pretty much sucks any trace of life from Shakespeare's unparalleled poetry.Depression seems to be common stock in Denmark. First there's Hamlet himself, played in such a broody, pouty manner by Maximillian Schnell that one ends up wishing he'd opted for "not to be" instead of "to be." He's found the perfect mate in Ophelia, who balances dead-faced melancholy with histronic whimpering. Polonious, meanwhile, isn't depressed but his stood-under-a-tree-in-an-electrical-storm hair and bad German accent (that is, the bad German accent of the actor who dubbed the English track) is very depressing. Even the comic gravedigger seems in need of Prozac.Then there's the production values, what little there is. Gertrude and Claudius, despite being the most powerful and therefore wealthiest people in Denmark, only have one change of clothes. Hamlet's late father dresses like a Sigfried and Roy wannabe, but it doesn't matter as nearly all of his big scene is spent focused directly on Hamlet's face, putting one uneasily in mind of Alanis Morrisette's "Head Over Feet" video. The wood-and-Styrofoam set would embarrass a high-school drama club, and the poor lighting and dark clothes make for a lot of disembodied heads and hands floating across the screen.Credit the MST3K boys for tackling this misguided piece and bringing some life back to one of the Bard's greatest works.