Three-quarters of a century of Shakespeare's Oscar-winning adaptation
On May 6, 1948, the premiere of the film "Hamlet" was held in London, staged by the famous English theater and film actor Laurence Olivier.
For the first time, Laurence Olivier professionally came into contact with the play of the great Shakespeare in 1937, when at the age of 30 he played the role of the Prince of Denmark in the play of the famous theater director Tyrone Guthrie at the Old Vic Theater. The performance was such a success that even Danish Shakespeare fans approached Tyrone Guthrie and Laurence Olivier to show it at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore (Helsingor), Denmark. Which was done in the summer of 1937, and again with great success.
During the Second World War, Laurence Olivier longed to take part in the fighting. To this end, he took military aircraft pilot courses, flew 250 training hours and was about to join the Royal Air Force. But the British government considered that Baron Olivier would bring more benefit to the fight against Nazism as a participant in propaganda films and productions. Formally, Olivier was listed in the ranks of the naval aviation, but in fact continued his acting career, starring in the films "49th Parallel" by Michael Powell (1941), "That Hamilton Woman" by Alexander Korda (1941) and "Adventure for Two" by Anthony Asquith (1943). The film "That Hamilton Woman", in which the Napoleonic threat was a metaphor for the Nazi threat and in which Laurence Olivier played along with his new wife - Vivien Leigh - was filmed at the initiative of Winston Churchill. The film was regarded by critics as "bad historical film, but good propaganda". In addition, Olivier spent a lot of time participating in propaganda radio broadcasts and giving speeches to boost the morale of the British soldiers.
In 1943, the British Ministry of Information commissioned Laurence Olivier to direct a propaganda film based on Shakespeare's "Henry V". Laurence Olivier successfully coped with this task, acting in this film in three guises: director, producer and lead actor. Moreover, Olivier was engaged in directing for the first time. True, the film was released in November 1944, when the outcome of the war was already clear, and the need for propaganda receded into the background. Nevertheless, the film was received with great enthusiasm by critics, and the American Film Academy in connection with this film in 1947 awarded Olivier an Oscar with the wording "For his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing "Henry V" to the screen."
In 1947, Laurence Olivier set out to prove that he could create not only propaganda films based on Shakespeare's plays, but also genuine works of art. It is possible that Olivier could have taken some other play as a literary basis, but in the same year Orson Welles began to film "Macbeth", and it was known that after that he planned to shoot "Othello". Olivier was literally in awe of Wells after his "Citizen Kane" and did not want to "get in the way." So he took up "Hamlet". On the one hand, it was a rather risky decision: only in the era of silent cinema, 8 versions of this tragedy were filmed, and in 1935, Indian filmmakers made a sound film adaptation called "Khoon Ka Khoon (Blood for Blood)". But on the other hand, Olivier had theatrical groundwork of 1937 behind him.
The high popularity of Laurence Olivier allowed him to raise the necessary amount of £500.000 for the filming of the film without any problems. Thanks to this budget, the film became one of the most expensive productions of its time. But upon release, the film quickly paid off, grossing over £1.3 million at the box office. And this despite the fact that a number of critics, distinguished by increased reverence for the classic of English literature, literally took up arms against the film by Laurence Olivier and its screenwriter Alan Dent. The main reason for these purists' resentment was that a little more than half of the text of the play remained in the film script, and some characters, namely Fortinbras, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, were left out of the script altogether.
It is known that Laurence Olivier's wife, Vivien Leigh, really wanted to play Ophelia in this film. But he refused this to his wife, explaining that Leigh was too famous. For the role of Ophelia, Olivier took 19-year-old Jean Simmons, who by that time had a dozen minor roles in minor films.
On August 26, 1948, Laurence Olivier's film "Hamlet" was presented to guests and participants of the international film festival in Venice. The jury of the film festival, chaired by the Italian film critic, screenwriter and director Luigi Chiarini, awarded the film the Grand International Award (at that time there were no Golden and Silver Lions). And this is despite the fact that films by well-known and venerable directors, in particular, Luchino Visconti, David Lean, Elia Kazan, Ingmar Bergman, George Cukor, Fred Zinneman, and others, claimed this award. Among the contenders for the award were such films that were considered favorites like "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" by John Huston and the already mentioned "Macbeth" by Orson Welles.
In early 1949, Laurence Olivier's film "Hamlet" won the American Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film. A little later, Laurence Olivier's Hamlet received 7 Oscar nominations and won 4 of them, including the Best Picture category. The film became the first non-American film to be awarded an Oscar in this category. And besides, the film was the first and to date remains the only Oscar-winning adaptation of Shakespeare's work as the Best Picture. In the Best Director category, American film academies gave preference to John Huston for directing the film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". In the same 1949, Laurence Olivier's film won the BAFTA Award, and, curiously, in the category of the Best Film from any Source. In the category of Best British Film, British film academies gave preference to the film "The Fallen Idol" by Carol Reed. Finally, in the same 1949, the Danish Film Critics Association awarded Laurence Olivier its Bodil Award as the Best European Film.
The vast majority of film critics, both in the late 40s of the 20th century and in the 21st century, devoted laudatory reviews to the film. For example, The New York Times film reviewer Bosley Crowther, in his review of September 30, 1948, enthusiastically noted a number of advantages of the picture, in particular,
"The subtle reactions of the characters, the movements of their faces and forms, which can be so dramatically expressive and which are more or less remote on the stage, are here made emotionally incisive by their normal proximity. Coupled with beautiful acting and inspired interpretations all the way, this visual closeness to the drama offers insights that are brilliant and rare....a quietly-moving camera which wanders intently around the vast and gloomy palace of Elsinore, now on the misty battlements, now in the great council chamber, now in the bedroom of the Queen, always looking and listening, from this and from that vantage point, gives the exciting impression of a silent observer of great events, aware that big things are impending and anxious not to miss any of them."
In his review, Crowther responded to those purists who attacked Laurence Olivier and Alan Dent for their abbreviations of the play. Crowther noted that despite cuts,
"some highly judicious editing has not done damage to the fullness of the drama nor to any of its most familiar scenes. In fact, it has greatly speeded the unfolding of the plot and has given much greater clarity to its noted complexities."
It should be noted that after almost half a century, another British film director Kenneth Branagh put an end to the dispute, unwittingly. In 1996, he made another adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy, perhaps somewhere around the 25th in a row, as close to the text as possible. The four-hour Branagh movie cost $18 million to make. The film grossed less than $5 million at the box office. And the festival achievements were not marked.
Another distinctive feature of the film by Laurence Olivier, noted by almost every film critic, is the so-called "Freudian interpretation of the Shakespeare's play". For example, the well-known American film critic James Berardinelli, in his review dated September 26, 2010, writes:
"Olivier is fascinated by the Oedipal potential in the relationship between Hamlet and his mother - something he italicizes by having them kiss on the lips several times. Adding to the odd nature of this pairing is the fact that, at the time of filming, Olivier was 40 and the actress playing Gertrude, Eileen Herlie, was 11 years his junior. Even makeup can't conceal the obviousness that she is not old enough to be his mother."
On this occasion, it should be noted that the image of Hamlet driven by a quasi-incestuous love for his mother originates in the theatrical production of The Old Vic, performed in 1937 by Tyrone Guthrie. This director was strongly influenced by the writings of Professor Ernest Jones, who was a student of Sigmund Freud and the beloved of the daughter of the famous founder of psychoanalysis.
In the Soviet Union, "Hamlet" by Laurence Olivier was not shown.
Despite the fact that three quarters of a century has passed since release of "Hamlet" by Laurence Olivier on the screens and that there are several dozen versions of Shakespeare's tragedy, modern moviegoers rate this movie quite highly. 59% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film scores from 8 to 10. Taking into account this indicator and the above, the rating of Laurence Olivier's film "Hamlet" according to FilmGourmand version is 9.993, which allows it to take 46th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
