# Is there a good Hamlet out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 7, 2007, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840 "2007-10-07T13:27:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/41 "2007-10-08T09:19:39Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] _laughing_ Okay, he \*mostly \*sucked, I grant you that. But it’s an awfully hammy role, and rather rubbish writing from our estimable Mr. Will, don’t you think? "I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace, and it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any: in this, though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain. " Really, I’m not sure what even Mr. Heston would have been able to make of that. [/QUOTE] Gary Oldman must have been busy. He’d have made it glorious. _Anyone other than Keanu_ would have made it at least slightly better - he just sticks out like a sore thumb. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/42 "2007-10-08T09:37:41Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Gary Oldman must have been busy. He’d have made it glorious. _Anyone other than Keanu_ would have made it at least slightly better - he just sticks out like a sore thumb. [/QUOTE] Ah, but do you think any other \*director \*would have made _Keanu_ \*better in the role? That was, after all, my original contention, that Branagh pulls admirable performances out of the most unlikely actors. \*At that point in his career, I hasten to caveat. Scuttlebutt has it that Keanu himself was alerted to the level of his suckitude in that role, and enrolled in acting classes shortly thereafter. Most accounts are that he improved after that. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/43 "2007-10-08T09:47:29Z")
Another fan of the Gibson version (Zefferelli version). I especially loved Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. She just broke my heart. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/44 "2007-10-08T10:01:59Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Ah, but do you think any other \*director \*would have made _Keanu_ \*better in the role? That was, after all, my original contention, that Branagh pulls admirable performances out of the most unlikely actors. [/quote] No, I agree - I don’t think anyone else would have been able to sand the wood any smoother. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/45 "2007-10-08T12:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=Mark Ryle] The performances of the few Americans in Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet run from oddly silly (Robin Williams’ Osric) to unspeakably bad (Jack Lemmon’s Marcellus). Billy Crystal’s Gravedigger is somewhere in the middle. The Americans’ amateurishness is embarrassing and doubly glaring when set in the midst of so many superlative perfomances from the Britishers. I began to suspect Branagh cast Americans in his film just to humiliate us. [/QUOTE] From memory, no cite sorry, he casts them because they don’t have many of of the hang ups that British actors carry over from the stage. I’m a big fan of the Branagh version, but I’d disagree with out on most of the performances (Except of course Lemmon, who recites his lines like someone who’s only just being introduced to the concept of Iambic Pentametre, and is stuck in the mode of counting out the stresses.) William’s Osric is silly, but as the final bit of comic relief before the finale, he’s supposed to be. That the character is a nervous twit works because, well, he is in close proximity with someone who’s killed three people. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/46 "2007-10-08T14:17:25Z")
I’d gladly donate one or two pieces of my anatomy to see the entirely of _Hamlet_ as performed by the cast of _Rosencrantz And Gildenstern Are Dead_. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/47 "2007-10-08T17:48:44Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] …Derek Jacobi as Claudius is not to be missed. He brings a power and, dare I say it, sexy masculinity to Claudius which is usually missing. [/QUOTE] Speaking of Jacobi - [This](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080835/) is my favorite Hamlet with Jacobi as the Prince. It appeared on PBS in the '80s as part of their program to stage and televise all the Shakespeare plays. It is now available as part of a set. There are a number of sets; Romances, Histories, Comedies, which are horribly expensive unless you can find them at Costco as I did. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/48 "2007-10-08T18:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] Speaking of Jacobi - [This](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080835/) is my favorite Hamlet with Jacobi as the Prince. It appeared on PBS in the '80s as part of their program to stage and televise all the Shakespeare plays. It is now available as part of a set. There are a number of sets; Romances, Histories, Comedies, which are horribly expensive unless you can find them at Costco as I did. [/QUOTE] Ooooooh! With Patrick Stewart and Claire Bloom! Want! Did you find them at Costco recently? she asked, fondling her membership card greedily. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/49 "2007-10-08T18:28:33Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Ooooooh! With Patrick Stewart and Claire Bloom! Want! [/QUOTE] The Royal Shakespeare Company are doing Hamlet next year with David Tennant as Prince H and Patrick Stewart as Claudius. Those tickets will go in seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/50 "2007-10-08T19:31:28Z")
**WhyNot** , your review of Branagh’s Hamlet is spot on, even down to Jack Lemmon’s oddly lackluster performance. > [@](#): > > Speaking of Jacobi - This is my favorite Hamlet with Jacobi as the Prince. It appeared on PBS in the '80s as part of their program to stage and televise all the Shakespeare plays. Ok, my mouth is now watering. I think this just jumped to the top of my “DVDs to Buy” list. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/51 "2007-10-08T19:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] I’d gladly donate one or two pieces of my anatomy to see the entirely of _Hamlet_ as performed by the cast of _Rosencrantz And Gildenstern Are Dead_. [/QUOTE] Seconded. Iain Glen’s Bard is so good, you’re dying for a chance to watch him do the whole thing. I still think Olivier’s version is the most satisfying filmic treatment. Not perfect by any stretch, but Branagh is mostly wrong in the title role (though there are some standout supporting performances, particularly Winslet and the remarkable Heston) in a film that is also in dire need of pruning (just because you can do the whole thing doesn’t necessarily mean you always should). ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/52 "2007-10-08T19:58:14Z")
I must correct myself. It was a BBC production, later broadcast on PBS. [QUOTE=WhyNot] Ooooooh! With Patrick Stewart and Claire Bloom! Want! Did you find them at Costco recently? she asked, fondling her membership card greedily. [/QUOTE] About a year ago, I think. However, I don’t think that there is a lot of rhyme or reason to when things get stocked or where. [QUOTE=Alistair McCello] Ok, my mouth is now watering. I think this just jumped to the top of my “DVDs to Buy” list. [/QUOTE] You can find it [here](http://www.amazon.com/BBC-Shakespeare-Tragedies-DVD-Giftbox/dp/B00006FXDE). Watch out for sticker shock. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/53 "2007-10-08T21:03:00Z")
I want to see the Muppet version, with Kermit as Hamlet, Miss Piggy as Ophelia, Statler and Waldorf _both_ as Polonius (Hey, they both played Marley), and with his old puppet Yorick making a Guest Appearance as Yorick. The show-stopper is his soliloquy, done to music: “It’s not easy Being” ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/54 "2007-10-08T22:01:04Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] …There are a number of sets; Romances, Histories, Comedies… [/QUOTE] Really misremembering today. Make that “_Tragedies_, Histories, Comedies.” ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/55 "2007-10-08T22:14:24Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I want to see the Muppet version, with Kermit as Hamlet, Miss Piggy as Ophelia, Statler and Waldorf _both_ as Polonius (Hey, they both played Marley), and with his old puppet Yorick making a Guest Appearance as Yorick. The show-stopper is his soliloquy, done to music: “It’s not easy Being” [/QUOTE] You are clearly a person of exquisite discernment! May I humbly suggest that S&W play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? I think WS wrote Polonius with Sam the American Eagle specifically in mind. The Players: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Horatio: Gonzo Ghost: Uncle Deadly Laertes: ought to be Link, but I prefer Sweetums ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/56 "2007-10-09T19:43:10Z")
[QUOTE=Leechboy] From memory, no cite sorry, he [Kenneth Branagh] casts them [Americans] because they don’t have many of of the hang ups that British actors carry over from the stage. I’m a big fan of the Branagh version, but I’d disagree with you [(Post 37)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9051747&postcount=37) on most of the performances (Except of course Lemmon, who recites his lines like someone who’s only just being introduced to the concept of Iambic Pentametre, and is stuck in the mode of counting out the stresses.) [Robin] Williams’ Osric is silly, but as the final bit of comic relief before the finale, he’s supposed to be. That the character is a nervous twit works because, well, he is in close proximity with someone who’s killed three people. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the background. Still, I got that involuntary uncomfortable feeling the English were snickering at the Americans. But I guarantee the room got quiet when Charleton Heston spoke. It occurs to me Heston gives no inkling, in the Player King’s preliminary back-and-forth with Hamlet as Hamlet is giving directions how he wants the ‘play within the play’ to be acted, of the power he is about to unleash. He responds very prosaically and acquiescingly to each of Hamlet’s suggestions, one by one. Jack Lemmon could have done as well. But Branagh knew what was coming. One evidence is the crucial role of the play within the play in Branagh’s Hamlet. Many productions reduce the visiting troupe of actors to walk-ons. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/57 "2007-10-09T20:24:19Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] Speaking of Jacobi - [This](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080835/) is my favorite Hamlet with Jacobi as the Prince. It appeared on PBS in the '80s as part of their program to stage and televise all the Shakespeare plays. It is now available as part of a set. There are a number of sets; Romances, Histories, Comedies, which are horribly expensive unless you can find them at Costco as I did. [/QUOTE] I came in to mention this version. According to a sweet little story told on the (finally!) released DVD of the Branaugh version, it was a stage performance of Jacobi’s Hamlet that made Branaugh decide to be an actor. I also have to recommend the Branaugh version for Nicholas Farrell’s Horatio. I can’t recall ever really noticing who played Horatio in any other production of Hamlet I’ve seen, film or stage–he’s just that guy who Hamlet talks to while he’s holding poor Yorrick’s skull–but Farrell gives a very natural and touching performance that has stood out for me since the first time I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Ryle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@Mark\_Ryle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Ryle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/58 "2007-10-11T01:51:27Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Mapp] According to a sweet little story told on the (finally!) released DVD of the Branagh version, it was a stage performance of Jacobi’s Hamlet that made Branagh decide to be an actor. [/QUOTE] Here is the anecdote, told by Derek Jacobi on a PBS Home Video, “Discovering Hamlet” (1990, Unicorn Projects): > [@](#): > > As a schoolboy I was taken to the Old Vic the wonderful season Richard Burton played Hamlet. And seeing him onstage was one of the things that convinced me, if I needed convincing, that I wanted to be an actor. And years later one of _my_ greatest thrills was when Burton came to see me play Hamlet at the Old Vic. [… garbled …] another visitor at that time – a young man – came backstage and told me that seeing the performance had made up _his_ mind to go into acting. His name was Kenneth Branagh. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/59 "2007-10-11T02:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=Barrett Bonden] If you are into Hamlet, do **not** miss Slings and Arrows [Season 1](http://www.amazon.com/Slings-Arrows-Season-Paul-Gross/dp/B000FBFYKU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-2427719-5782858?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1191810486&sr=8-1) . If you then have a hankering for a similar treatment of the Scottish Play, why, there’s [Season 2](http://www.amazon.com/Slings-Arrows-Season-Peter-Wellington/dp/B000H5U5M6/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/105-2427719-5782858?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1191810486&sr=8-3) . You can thank me later. 🙂 ETA: The first two seasons are available on youtube, starting here: [Season 1 - Episode 1 - Part 1](http://youtube.com/watch?v=owfeSoW-DmY) [/QUOTE] And season 3 is King Lear and also just amazing. Although all three seasons make me regret not having seen much live Shakespeare. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840/60 "2007-10-11T11:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Ooooooh! With Patrick Stewart and Claire Bloom! Want! [/QUOTE] Lalla Ward as _Ophelia_ did the trick for me. Those BBC versions were standard fare when I did Shakespeare at Uni, and I still want to get the set. The Othello with Bob Hoskins as _Iago_ is … chilling. We went to see **Twelfth Night** performed live in the Close at Winchester Cathedral recently. The cast were dressed as a 20s Jazz band (sharp suits), and carried/played instruments the whole time. Sharp, sexy and a whole lot of fun. Si [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-hamlet-out-there/421840.md?page=4)