Hamlet (1980)

Directed for the BBC by Rodney Bennett and John Gorrie

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Yesterday's post on the king in Hamlet, and his terrible doubts as he tries and fails to pray, has determined for me what our Film of the Week would be — Hamlet itself. I’d mentioned the vocal introduction that Laurence Olivier appended to the film, which he both starred in and directed: “This is the tragedy of a man who could not make up his mind.” Olivier said he wanted to zero in on the tortured emotions of the Prince of Denmark, especially what he saw as Hamlet’s ambiguous love for his mother, and that’s why he cut about an hour and a half from what would otherwise have been a four-hour production. He cut everything political: there’s no Fortinbras, prince of Norway, no Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to act as the king’s suborned agents against their college friend Hamlet, no view of Claudius in action as the ruler, no vexed question of the succession to the Danish crown. That last one is a real issue in the play, as it certainly was for Englishmen in Shakespeare’s time, since Queen Elizabeth was old and in poor health, and she had no children. The Danish crown was elective, which makes us ask, “Why did the people throw their weight toward Claudius, the king’s brother, rather than to Hamlet, the king’s grown son?” For the play does set it up as a legitimate question, as Hamlet accuses the King of having “come between the election and my hopes.” So it’s not just a lot of lines that Olivier cut, but a large and important side of the play.

Still, Olivier produced a terrific film. I wouldn’t have chosen it for the Oscar it won for best film of 1948; my vote would have gone to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, or to the harrowing Johnny Belinda. And there have been several big productions of Hamlet since then, one with Nicol Williamson, one with Kenneth Branagh, even one with Mel Gibson. But here I’m going once more to take a cue from the Prince of Denmark himself, and “by indirections find directions out.” How about, for psychological power and for situating the Prince in the entire complex of political and personal demands that Shakespeare gives us? I’m thinking of a production with a severely restricted set, but with few lines removed, and with the rest of the dramatis personae restored to their importance, as they all serve as points of contact or contrast with Hamlet, to deepen the ambiguity of the man’s choices, and render them harder to accept, and thus more terribly tragic if we conclude that they are wrong?

The BBC, from 1978 to 1985, produced all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, with a pretty wide range in quality. You’d think that the comedies would be the easiest to do, but there the success was pretty spotty: the two I found to be excellent were Twelfth Night (with a wonderful performance by Robert Hardy as Sir Toby Belch; you may remember Hardy as the mischievous old veterinarian Siegfried in All Things Bright and Beautiful) and Measure for Measure (see Kate Nelligan as Isabella). They were best with the histories: see for example Ron Cook as the restless hunchback in Richard III, and Anthony Quayle as Falstaff in Henry IV, parts 1 and 2; the dream sequence in Richard III is performed with breathtaking subtlety and quietly mounting terror.

The tragedies were hit or miss — the best were Othello, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet. When you consider the cast, you ask, “How could it be otherwise?” Derek Jacobi is the Prince, intelligent, introverted, self-doubting, a shrewd judge of character, and, once roused, a formidable opponent. Claire Bloom is the Queen, and Patrick Stewart, yes, that Patrick Stewart, with hair still on the top of his head, is Claudius. So I recommend both productions, but if I had to choose one or the other, I’d go for this one. “Make it so,” he said.

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Word & Song bthony Esolen is an online magazine devoted to reclaiming the good, the beautiful, and the true. We publish six essays each week, on words, classic hymns, poems, films, and popular songs, as well as a Friday podcast, alternately Poetry Aloud or Anthony Esolen Speaks. To support this project, please join us as a subscriber, and please do share our posts.