Christopher Plummer in a 1964 BBC TV production of Hamlet. The editing and camera work are nothing to write home about, but the performances are great.
Thank you! Surely, Christopher Plummer portrays Hamlet best out of all actors, including Sir Laurence Olivier. What an incredible cast!`¬ Janet Thompson Deaver
Very good Plummer could do anything Play a hero play a villain.. He was good looking enough to get a principle part with ease but he had a penchant for diversity and he didn't always want to play the good dashing hero!
HAMLET: To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-- No more--and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep-- To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes calamity of so long life. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of th' unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprise of great pitch and moment With this regard their currents turn awry And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now, The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins remembered.
I really like it (but then I have a slight crush on the Prince, as a character in a story). As for the camera work - well it is almost 50 years old. But it's Elsinore which more than makes up for it. And he really does it well. Now to find the rest of it. Thanks for posting.
Just struck me . How could Shakespeare , imagine what a ghost suffers after this life ,? In insufferable torment in purgatory . to come back and haunt us all with his crazy imaginings ?
Olivier, Branagh, Plummer, Burton...my God, they are all so good. How do you pick the best? For me it's kind of like great Rock Guitarists. Some prefer the spacey, other worldly character of Hendirix, others get off on the bluesy sound of Clapton, still others really dig the country slide of Duane Allman (to me, there is NOTHING like Jerry from the mid 70's) but they are all kings of their craft. Just enjoy
I’d say Christopher Plummer was a better stage actor than screen actor. Like Burton he struggled making the move from Stage to Screen. It’s kind of sad that we don’t really know how great Richard Burton was on stage
He was both a great stage and a great screen actor, getting: 3 Oscar nominations, 1 win 7 Emmy nominations, 2 wins 7 Tony nominations , 2 wins. even 1 Grammy nomination! And many other awards! A legendary actor with amazing credentials!
Hamlet is a ghost tour of Shakespeare's own sleep walking fantasies . As is Macbeth . And the " air drawn" dagger that leads him to his grave It is Shakespeare in his fever .
He does well with Hamlet as do they all but I wish one would speak from the heart the words mean and not just the words for there is more depth and meaning than just what the words say,
But the extra meaning is for you to add...the listener, the audience. Your own heart, mind, attitude emotions, and personal journey bring more meaning to those magical musings, as you hear them in real time. You bring something to the tale as well. Not only the players are part of the performance..that is part of the magic as well!
Does anybody know what year this video was made as I am studying this at the moment to build a half an hour play for people with and without a disability. To be shown in the new year
I thought the film was disappointing when it came out on DVD. I also though that although Plummer was good enough there was no original interpretation of the role. It was pretty much a conventional Hamlet. Olivier's is not the best Hamlet, but at least he tried to come up with an original conception of the part.
+garrison968 Actually, Plummer's is one of the riskiest interpretations of Hamlet; most actors are much more cautious. The cast includes Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Shaw. It was videotaped at Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Sorry you didn't enjoy it.
It doesn't work, because the intellect isn't a primary concern of Plummer's. He does well, but Hamlet is ruined/empowered by his brains, you have to be very clever for that; Plummer's too manly, too practical. Takes a homosexual to play the role!
What BS, nobody in Hamlet's condition would artistically recite like it was an eloquent poem. Mine is much better. Let's see what Olivier's got. (His 'Winter of our discontent was terrible.)
What I love about this performance, in contradistinction to the others, is that it is a true soliloquy (minus the confounded echoes at certain intervals). This passage is that a tortured soul opining, (out loud )over existentialist woes, asking "the only true philosophical question." It should be quiet, unsettling, pensive. Admittedly, though, this might be a little too pensive, lol; it should be interspersed with more dynamics. (I like Kenneth Branagh's soliloquy in this regard) The best part about a film is that you can whisper to yourself, which is what this passage demands. On stage you have to blurt things out so the audience hears you. I've always found theater rather contrived and unnatural because of this.
