Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790761619
Format: Anamorphic
ISBN: 0790761610
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
MPN: WARD19033D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2004-02-24
Running Time: 130
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1991-01-18

Treachery. Madness. Murder. The story of Hamlet has been told for 400 years...but it's never been told like this! Mel Gibson (the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon films) takes on his richest part to date, the title role in a dynamic new version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet, Jesus of Nazareth), the location-shot production has a sumptuous look that won Academy Award nominations for Art Direction and Costume Design. Gibson plays the prince of medieval-era Denmark, who senses treachery behind his royal father's death. Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons) plays Hamlet's mother Gertrude, all too dangerously entangled in that treachery. A brilliant supporting cast, including Alan Bates as Claudius, Paul Scofield as the ghost of Hamlet's father, Ian Holm as Polonius and Helena Bonham-Carter as Ophelia, adds its powerful presence to this immortal tale of high adventure and evil deeds. Big, bold and heroic, this is a vivid and virile Hamlet for the modern age and all time.
Franco Zeffirelli's stripped-down, two-hour version of Shakespeare's play stars Mel Gibson as a rather robust version of the ambivalent Danish prince. Gibson is much better in the part than many critics have admitted, his powers of clarity doing much to make this particular Hamlet more accessible than several other filmed versions. The supporting cast is outstanding, including Glenn Close as Gertrude, Alan Bates as Claudius, Ian Holm as Polonius, and Helena Bonham Carter as Ophelia. Zeffirelli's vigorous direction employs a lively camera style that nicely alters the viewer's preconceptions about the way Hamlet should look. --Tom Keogh

Customer Rating:
Summary: Champagne for the eyes
Comment: After seeing Olivier's version of Hamlet, I was interested in seeing this version of Hamlet. Admittedly, Mel Gibson was one-hundred percent of my impulse to see this film. I don't usually follow actors when choosing movies; I trust directors more than I trust actors in choosing movies. But Mel Gibson is an exception to this rule: when was the last time the man made a bad movie?-- I can't even think of one.

With this said, I rented this movie and watched it with growing delight and amazement. As always, Mel was Mel--great. Glen Close--great. The actors and actresses, from Mel Gibson, to Glen Close,to Alan Bates, to Ian Holmes, etc., delivered the complicated verses of the Bard's epic tragedy as though those words were their very own words. And those words, though fast and often ferocious, were nevertheless so clearly defined and nuanced that at no point during the film did I feel any inclination to switch on the subtitles. As Adrian Lynne's Lolita to Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, this version of Hamlet was so well made as to defy every comparison with its former. The gargantuan and rough-hewn sets of Zeffirelli's Hamlet sharply contrasts against the tiny, but well-organized sets of Olivier's Hamlet. Precision, economy, and bourgeoisie ethos marked Olivier's Hamlet; though equally articulate, Mel's Hamlet is scruffy and coarse as if to blend in with the harsh interior and exterior sets of the movie.

Hamlet is a proverb centered around the murder of King Hamlet, Hamlet's father. The murder of King Hamlet at the hands of his brother, Claudius--who subsequently assumes both Hamlet's crown and queen--is the outrage that inflames young Hamlet (Gibson)against his mother's--Glen Close-- new husband. Despite all signs pointing to the affirmative--that Claudius murdered his father, young Hamlet cannot act decisively and his wavering establishes a chain of terrible and tragic incidents.

This Hamlet is a great movie, equally so to Olivier's Hamlet. Mel Gibson's best acting performance. Glen Close, never more beautiful.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Hamlet with Mel Gibson
Comment: I need it for my school assignment, I watch it two times and learn to appreciate and love the movie, it's a clasic from Shakespeare! A must have!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Kenneth Branaugh, but doesn't dive
Comment: I use this one for my college sophomore British lit class because it is shorter than Branaugh's definitive production, the costumery and set is fab, and the movement is fast-paced enough to keep their attention. It is also more "historically accurate" in that it is set in medieval Denmark and we will have studied the Danish influence of English culture by then, red Beowulf, etc.. However, it is the "action-figure" Hamlet, with Mel Gibson who was in his prime in all those action movies that he did back then (I can't think of a single title) so it loses something of the pensive angst of other Hamlets. Hamlet, the intellectual, the philosopher, torn between tradition (revenge), personal suffering, and his educated renaissance mind, is lost to Gibson's more determined portayal. Close's Gertrude is an annoying slut who can't even keep her hands off her own son and Bate's Claudius is a passably smarmy Machiavelle. The lovely authentic setting over-rides much of this and the second year students aren't thinking criticaly anyway. However, I do show the beginning, ending, and death of Ophelia from Branaugh's so that they can see another perspective. Perspective is all, you might say, in this case.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Speedy Delivery
Comment: According to instructions for ordering next-day delivery, I had 4 minutes to decide. Made my decision and DVD of "Hamlet" delivered within 24 hours. Great!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: This is the best movie version of Hamlet.
Comment: Mel Gibson is a bit too old to play the young Hamlet, but he is very believable. He has awesome facial expressions when he realizes Ophelia is dead. Glenn Close also plays a wonderful Gertrude. When she is dying from the poisoned wine, she, too, has awesome facial expressions. Great movie!

---