Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in order to avenge his father's death. Hamlet himself is portrayed (by Innokenti Smoktunovsky) as the sole sensitive intellectual in a world made up of debauchers and revellers. Several of Kozintsev directorial choices seem deliberately calculated to inflame the purists: Hamlet's delivers his "To be or not to be" soliloquy with his back to the camera, allowing the audience to fill in its own interpretations.
Reviews
To say frankly I have seen this movie when I was ten or something. I was astonished and embarrassed of the tremendous score and epic, fragile acting of Smoktunovsky and Vertinskaya. They did not perform, they lived the life on the screen. It was so true, so uncompromising, so tensely. The tragedy of the story impressed me very much. I could not explain why I was so involved in that performance and why it stroke my mind like a thunder. I think from that moment I became a bit older. Something important happened. Now I am 39 and I still feel the same emotional collapse when watching that victory of spirit and truth. Pure cinematographic magic.
I recommend this to everyone with a taste for dramatic, striking imagery. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful black-and-white picture I've seen so far. The inevitable subtitles are not that distracting if you're familiar with the basic story (I'm not a Shakespeare buff, so I may have missed some finer points, like a political message). The acting is superb, but never upstages the camera - this is a filmmakers vision, not an expanded stage play. The drama is heightened by Dmitri Shostakovich's dark, menacing score over the backdrop of rolling waves. A visual and acoustic treat.
Kozinstev does a BEAUTIFUL job with his Hamlet. The choice of black and white, the setting by the sea, his actors, Shostakovich's music... It's all brilliant. The interpretation of Hamlet and his motivations might seem a little sketchy at times, but the overall interpretation is far too commanding to be affected. The portrayal, especially, of Hamlet himself is , simply put, one of the best out there. Smotunovsky's controlled and deliberate performance cannot help but leave you stunned during some of his soliloquies. And in my personal opinion, anyone who has read Hamlet should have to see Kozinstev's vision of Hamlet Sr.'s ghost. SO awesome.
I share the previous reviewer's high estimation of this wonderful film. It is a highly political and imaginative interpretation of Hamlet, making Hamlet a man of action who is nevertheless alienated at court. The opening sequence is a stunning interpretation of Hamlet's view that the time is out of joint--Hamlet rushes back to court on horseback even as the flags of mourning are being unfurled. Claudius's speech is delivered by a herald and then translated by ambassadors. When we get to Claudius giving the rest of it to his court, it's not clear how much time, if any, has passed. nor is it clear who is in command (who is giving the orders that the flags be unfurled, cannons fired, the proclamation read, and so on). When Claudius finally addresses Hamlet aft the camera tracks him moving right down the table of courtiers, Hamlet's chair is empty. the opening sequence also moves from open external spaces ( a shot of the sea, a long shot of the land, and moves to increasingly shut in , interior spaces (the castle gates drop as the music gets ominous) to suggest that Denmark is indeed a prison. Visually and musically the film is very rich. I would rank this as the best of the filmed Hamlets.