- For the episode, see MST3K 1009 - Hamlet.
| “ | To be, or not to be? That is the question... | ” |
| - Hamlet |
Hamlet is a 1961 production of the drama by William Shakespeare made for German television. It was directed by Franz Peter Wirth.
Plot[]
Maximilan Schell in Hamlet
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find that his father the King has been murdered, and that his mother Gertrude has married the King's brother Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to Hamlet and tells him that Claudius murdered him, and instructs Hamlet to seek revenge.
Hamlet is overcome with melancholy and seems to be insane, though this may be an act. He hesitates to kill his uncle Claudius, who discovers that Hamlet is planning revenge.
Hamlet becomes increasingly unhinged and kills Polonius, one of the king's advisers. Polonius' daughter Ophelia (Hamlet's girlfriend) becomes crazed with grief and drowns herself. Polonius' son Laertes demands revenge and Claudius arranges a duel between Laertes and Hamlet.
Hamlet, his mother, Claudius, Laertes, and several others are killed.
Cast[]
- Maximilian Schell as Hamlet
- Hans Caninenberg as Claudius (voiced by Ricardo Montalbán)
- Wanda Rotha as Gertrude
- Dunja Movar as Ophelia
- Franz Schafheitlin as Polonius (voiced by John Banner)
- Dieter Kirchlechner as Laertes
- Karl Michael Vogler as Horatio
Notes[]
- The Paul Verhoeven in this film is not the controversial filmmaker Paul Verhoeven.
- The original version of this film was shot in Germany in 1960 and first aired in West Germany on January 1, 1961. The English-dubbed version debuted at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival.[1]
- The original German version has a runtime of three hours, while the English-dubbed version originally had a runtime of 152 minutes. By contrast, Kenneth Branagh's 1996 feature film version of Hamlet (one of the few times anyone has filmed the entire, conflated text of the play without edits) runs 242 minutes.
- One of the most common tactics used to reduce the length of this play is to omit the character of Fortinbras, which this version does.
- A number of films and television series have produced pastiches on Hamlet, including the film The Last Action Hero (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the TV comedies Gilligan's Island and The Simpsons.
- Among Shakespeare scholars, Hamlet is widely considered to be the best drama written by Shakespeare. As Shakespeare is generally accepted to be the greatest writer in the English language, Hamlet could arguably be considered to be the best drama written in English in history.
MST3K Connections[]
- John Banner (English dub voice of Polonius) also portrayed Bovaro in Crash of Moons.