Rating: 
Summary: "Dead for a ducket! Dead!!!"
Review: With those words spoken with a maniacal glare, Lawrence Olivier had my complete attention. He is both director and the lead in this classic version of the celebrated play. The direction is smart, reminiscent at times of visual techniques used in "Citizen Kane." Praise, indeed! However, his acting performance is frustrating. He speaks softly, letting the poetry of the language speak for itself, then has a brilliant moment or exceptional scene, only to blaze sensationalistic at the wrong times. One such instance was just after Hamlet slays Polonius. Olivier cries out at the top of his voice, "Is it the King?!" Hamlet states early in the play that he is only playing at madness. Why is he then drawing so much attention to his bloody actions when we all know he just left the King praying on a lower level? He knows it couldn't be the King. Once again, his direction is amazing, but there are some excellent examples of why actors should not direct themselves. Seriously, who's going to tell them their performance needs work? Another scene that had me scratching my head was after the "players" first arrive. Why does Olivier pull the lead player aside, telling him that he has lines for him to memorize, only to have the "play-within-a-play" enacted without any words at all? He should have cut that earlier scene, or let the players have their lines.
The meeting with Hamlet's ghost is incredibly creepy here, with trick camera work, an eerie score, great special effects, and a thudding heart-beat announcing the ghost's arrival. This is my favorite version of this particular scene.Jean Simmons looks very pretty here, and she does have her moments, but there are better portrayals of Ophelia in other renditions of the play. Both Helena Bonham Carter, in the Mel Gibson version, and Kate Winslet, in the Kenneth Branagh version, are superior. Jean Simmons is good, but not great. Horatio is wooden for the most part. When will actors learn that one doesn't stop acting simply because it is not their turn to speak. Gestures and expressions, people! Lawrence Olivier uses subtlety in ever scene at ever moment, that is why so many consider him a great actor. Once again, the character of Laertes is portrayed with only a little passion. Catch the Kenneth Branagh version to see a vengeful Laertes on the verge of exploding with blood-lust! Overall, I was disappointed with the supporting cast. They have their moments, but none of them can match Olivier's performance. To quote a critical review I read, "Olivier is triumphant!" As both director and actor, his work here, for the most part, shines. Thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: TO RESTORE OR NOT TO RESTORE - THAT IS THE QUESTION!
Review: Criterion laserdiscs used to be top of the line. Their transfers were solid and their committment to extra features very compelling. One didn't mind shelling out upwards of a hundred dollars (or perhaps did, but simply reasoned the issue internally)because what you got for your money was far above what other studios were offering at the time. However, their DVD transfers have faired less well. Often Criterion is using the same tired print bootlegged from their laserdiscs, ditto for the extras)and this has yielded less than stellar results on the DVD viewing format with its higher resolution.
Hamlet is no exception. By now it seems a mute point to have to explain the tale of the Danish prince who would be king, if only he could figure out how to avenge his father's death and kill his own uncle. Royalty does have its problems!
This Academy Award winning Best Picture - produced, directed and starring Sir Lawrence Olivier is still considered by many (present company excluded) to be the definitive version of Shakespeare's master work. (I prefer the Kenneth Branagh version to this one.)
TRANSFER: The gray scale is good but the print elements lack fine detail and suffer from low contrast in many of the darkest scenes. Age related artifacts are everywhere. Edge enhancement and shimmering of fine details crop up now and then and is very obvious to the naked eye. The audio is MONO and well balanced, though there is a considerable amount of background hiss throughout.
EXTAS: An audio commentary and some junket stuff that really doesn't warrent the price tag on this disc.
BOTTOM LINE: Criterion should reconsider their stance in the DVD market. With every studio now offering special editions, Criterion's usual cluster of extra features seemed to pale in comparison. This disc is nothing to get excited about!
Rating:
Summary: overrated
Review: the text is butchered worse than elsewhere. And Olivier is just not the best Hamlet. The thunder during the tobeornotobe soliloquy that accomponies "ay theres the rub" and him shouting that line(?) are just plain corny and yuck. Branaghs a much better blonde and makes this film completely obsolete and useless. I also never like seeing that soliloquy come AFTER the fight with Ophelia, as it does here. The H+Gertrude exchange is a little sexier than most, and I like it.
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