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Hamlet |
List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $17.98 |
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| Product Info |
Reviews |
Features:
Description:
Campbell Scott directs and stars in this not-quite-modern-dress version of Hamlet. A production can easily lose itself in attempting such a notorious great work of literature, but this one largely keeps its head. The film starts with a few silent establishing scenes--a nice touch when one already knows the characters. Some well-thought-out stage business also enhances the play, such as Gertrude frolicking with Claudius just outside an open window while Hamlet delivers his first soliloquy. Occasionally cinematic concerns seem to get in the way--the production appears so concerned with making the old King Hamlet's ghost scary that it forgets to make him ominous--and every now and then Scott falls into the self-indulgent traps that directors who cast themselves as Hamlet tend to. Overall, however, the performances are quite good. Blair Brown gives Gertrude more depth and intelligence than most actresses, and Lisa Gay Hamilton fights her way through some difficult mad-scene direction to give a fine performance as Ophelia. Roger Guenveur Smith does excellent work as Laertes--he is thoroughly comfortable with Elizabethan English and gives a lovely, understated performance. The DVD includes The Making of Hamlet. --Ali Davis
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