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Have you watched them yet! I remember Jane Lapotaire's performance as Lady Macbeth And Cleopatra - I must 've had a crush on her at the time- I also remember Johnathan Miller saying about the Cleopatra casting, he wanted true beauty, not Holywood tat.
Wow you are so lucky! I was on the lovefilm DVD rental scheme for awhile and I saw as many of them as I could they are absolutely amazing. I went for the ones that were least likely to come round on tv so I can't tell you about Hamlet but on the whole the acting(with a few exceptions) just made Shakespeare's plays come alive especially Robert Lindsay, he is fantastic.Quote:
Originally Posted by wessexgirl
Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to watch any yet, but we break up tomorrow for half-term, so you can guess what I'll be hoping to do :D. I love Jane Lapotaire, so I think I may watch A & C first, (love the play). I've watched clips on youtube of Robert Lindsay as Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing, and I love him too, so I hope to get round to that soon as well. Now I love Jane Lapotaire, and I love Robert Lindsay too, but which one first.......there's only one way to find out.........FIGHT!!!!!!!! (Sorry, only fans of a certain UK comedian may get that :lol:).
Wow, lucky you. That's an expensive set. A friend lend me the History plays part of the set and it was quite good. At the time we were discussing "Richard II"; Jacobi plays him. I haven't returned the set yet so I watched the Henry plays several times. I prefer the Branagh version of "Henry V", even if it's a little abreviated; but the young actor (forget his name now) playing Henry in the BBC version is quite good and it's interesting to watch the same actor in both of the Henry plays.Quote:
Originally Posted by wessexgirl
The "Richard III" is quite good, too; the ending is pretty awesome. The "Hamlet" of course is the Jacobi one and it's wonderful. I would really like to see "As You Like it" with Helen Mirren. Let me know, wessexgirl, when you watch these and maybe we can discuss them briefly. I would like to know your impression(s).
I am rewatching Kenneth Branagh's version of "Hamlet"...I watch it about 10 times a year! I always see something new in the production. I was thinking last night how hard it is to compare films...some are closer to plays such as the Jacobi version; a little more barebones. I would say Branagh's production is more cinemagraphic and lush...the sets are really stunning, yet they don't detract from the dialogue or characters. One could do a whole analaysis on the set design. I guess I am very visual, so that his version appeals to me the most. I could turn the sound off and still enjoy the film. The setting, at Blenheim castle estates, is perfect. I saw a another castle on the internet, that is known as the Hamlet castle; I just looked it up and it says: "Shakespeare's play, 'Hamlet' takes place in the Danish castle of Kronborg, which is located in Elsinore or Helsingør North of Copenhagen, on the place where Denmark is closest to Sweden."
That building is quite impressive, too. Here is a link to the site:http://www.copenhagenpictures.dk/kronborg.html
Don't mind me, I am just thinking out loud....
Haha...here is by far the funniest Hamlet ever....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbB6B0cQs4
10 times a year!!!
I've seen it once, at the local cinema, they were making an event of it , with Danish pastries at the interval. That was enough to entice the wife to come and watch it with me. NEVER AGAIN, she is not a fan of the bard, or of Kenneth, so all the way through she was sighing and making bored sounds and asking how much longer ect.. Not one of our most sucessful nights out.
Ahhh...poor you. I find that to totally spoil a film for me. Wowy and to have seen it in the cinema. I would die to see it on a big screen format. It was shot in 70mm, so it must have really been impressive. Luckily, I watch the film all by myself. I concentrate on every nuance and every line. Unlike your wife, I am in love with KB, only he doesn't know it.:lol: We have a whole fan club on YT now. I was quite thrilled with the production first time I saw; it was on VHS tape and then I signed the online petition to bring out the 10 yr aniversary DVD...not sure why they hadn't done it earlier. Yes, indeed, I do watch it at least 10 times a year, if not more. I now know every line, before they even say it. It's pretty obsessive and funny, don't you think?Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
No, no its perfectly normal behavior.:lol:
It was very impressive on the big screen- almost a sensory overload.
:lol: yes, most of us here are a bit obsessive, to say the least; if we all got cured there would probably be no Litnet. Within the standards I set for myself I feel perfectly normal. :eek2:Quote:
Originally Posted by prendrelemick
Your should have send you wife home in a cab, so you could better enjoy it. I wish they would show it in a threater again. I would be the first in line. It must be amazing to have seen it on the big screen. Oh man, I am big into sensory overloads! I don't even recall ever seeing it out over here in the US. I guess it must have run sometime or the other, somehow I missed it. :sad:Quote:
It was very impressive on the big screen- almost a sensory overload.
Measure for Measure was brilliantly done- the leads were brilliant. I saw a modernised version and it was awful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
Love it Janine :lol:
I think you'll love this one too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-Y1ch4b5c
:lol: So funny, Shakey, Rowan Atkinson, Colin Firth and Ken referenced....(albeit unflatteringly).
I decided to watch Anthony and Cleopatra last night, and I was loving it, but unfortunately fell asleep, (nothing to do with the production, but my dvd player downstairs is on the blink, so I have to watch in bed, and of course the inevitable happens......get comfy and I'm gone :yawnb:). I woke up to see Cleo with the asp, and kudos to JL for her handling of the little blighter :eek6: I will try to catch up today with what I missed.
Mickeytake, did you know that JL is starring in the new classic drama this Sunday on R4? It's a trilogy called Plantaganet about Henry 11 and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Can't wait.
I want to go through the History cycle Janine, while I'm off school, but I will have to see if I can manage it without the dozing off. If I could figure out how to watch dvds on my computer it would help:confused5: I don't know what I'm doing wrong, as I'm sure I should be able to watch them. I'm not very capable with technology, so it's probably something simple.....
Anyway, I'll try to watch what I can and report back. :)
Great! Henry and Ellenor are my two most favouritist historical figures. I can see Jane is perfect for Ellenor. I wonder if it's available as a podcast so I can listen whilst walling.
Ahhhh...British humor - love it! I am sure Ken Branagh would be laughing his head off with us. I loved it...so funny....Colin Firth is great. I still love the 'Hamlet rewrite' one best (glad you liked it, too) but this one is a gem, also. Thanks for pointing it out. I put into one of my playlists on YT.Quote:
Originally Posted by wessexgirl
Interesting information here, wessexgirl...thanks. I have that same problem *yawn* when listening to an audiobook or play. I woke up one night to men screaming at each other. I forget now which play or story it was; but it was alarming, waking from a sound sleep, hearing people attacking each other.Quote:
I decided to watch Anthony and Cleopatra last night, and I was loving it, but unfortunately fell asleep, (nothing to do with the production, but my dvd player downstairs is on the blink, so I have to watch in bed, and of course the inevitable happens......get comfy and I'm gone :yawnb:). I woke up to see Cleo with the asp, and kudos to JL for her handling of the little blighter :eek6: I will try to catch up today with what I missed.
Mickeytake, did you know that JL is starring in the new classic drama this Sunday on R4? It's a trilogy called Plantaganet about Henry 11 and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Can't wait.
I want to go through the History cycle Janine, while I'm off school, but I will have to see if I can manage it without the dozing off. If I could figure out how to watch dvds on my computer it would help:confused5: I don't know what I'm doing wrong, as I'm sure I should be able to watch them. I'm not very capable with technology, so it's probably something simple.....
Anyway, I'll try to watch what I can and report back. :)
Tim Piggott-Smith was very good as Angelo and I liked the Duke, he was good.Quote:
Originally Posted by kelby_lake
I saw this play without any idea of the story and it was a real wake up call, I never realised till then how bawdy Shakespeare could be. I had been treating Shakespeare, somewhat unconsciously, with a sort of reverence treating his work in an unreal way and the productions I had seen reinforced this view. For example Midsummers Night Dream with Kevin Kline, everything in it was beautiful but there was no life in it. That's what I think was so impressive about the BBC version it was natural it wasn't the stage it was life. Everything started to make more sense. The series revealed so much to me.
Because MfM was stripped down to its bones set-wise for the BBC- no flashy camera-work- it let the text speak for itself. In the AMND film, some of the actors were trying to compensate, almost apologise, for the text.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fen
I was watching a commentary on actors and one was Lawrence Olivier and the critic brought up a good point. He said Olivier was a stage actor and he didn't play up as well as others to the camera. I have had this same feeling in viewing his productions of Shakespeare. The critic said his work of that genre was very stagey. I agree and I think that is why basically I am not that impressed with his Hamlet. I fully expected to be when I first saw it but I was disappointed. To me it's just filming a play. I got to thinking about this thread and I think it is sort of unfair now to actually pick the best Hamlet. It's like comparing apples and oranges. I think it would be fairer to say 'who is the best Hamlet in play form' and 'who is the best Hamlet in film. There is a big difference. John Guilgud said it all - "Hamlet can be played in many ways." I therefore conclude that there is probably no best but rather one that appeals to the individual. I think the fact it can be played many ways and interpretted many ways makes the whole story of Hamlet even more intriguing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine
By 'best', I meant the one closest to your own interpretation of the character, or just the one you find most interesting. For example, is Olivier's Oedpius interpretation valid? And I chose film because it's a fairer way of comparison. Not everybody will have seen famous stage productions.
Tennant's Hamlet was a good example of how a play can be filmed well for television, but most filmed plays are stagey. Branagh's film acting can be stagey- most stage actors can come off as stagey on screen.
Plays are artificial and metaphorical; film is on the whole a literal medium. You want the viewer to believe in the reality of the film and it's hard to create ambiguity in film, therefore a lot of plays suffer because the actors either try to speak realistically, thus losing some of the beauty of the lines, or they ham it up.
I just saw David Tennant's "Hamlet" last night because it FINALLY aired in the States.
Though I love Tennant as the Doctor (WHY did he leave?), I found his Hamlet to be a bit distracting and perhaps overracted. He's constantly moving around and adding all sorts of wild gestures to his speeches, esp. with Polonius. I've always thought of Hamlet as more subdued, introverted, and angsty, though Tennant brings an athletic energy to the character. I've also heard some say that he delivers the lines in such a way as to make them more understandable (perhaps to us younger folks who've not seen much Shakespeare on stage). I found this true for me, especially in the scenes with the players. Tennant also strikes me as one of the younger actors to play Hamlet. (The red T-shirt and bare feet were shocking, though.) That, combined with the modern setting, lent a new dynamic to the play.
Speaking of the setting, what did you all think of the CCTV effects? I thought it was an ingenious way to represent the oppressive atmosphere of Elsinore, though the technique was not always exploited to its fullest extent. And though some of my friends have remarked that the constant use of cracked mirrors felt pretentious, I quite liked it. Not only did they *look* good with all the other black glass, marble, and crystal chandeliers, but I liked the idea of reflection and looking anew at oneself.
I thought Patrick Stewart gave a nice performance, though I didn't get a real sense of menace from him. He seemed rather subdued for the entire performance. And I didn't like the fact that the director used him to play the ghost of Hamlet's father, esp. in the scene in Gertrude's bedroom. The whole point of the scene (from Hamlet's POV) is how different his father and Claudius are, even down to their physical appearance. And then Patrick Stewart appears with a joke of a beard as the ghost, and it's so glaringly obvious that it's the same person who plays Claudius.
Highlights for me: Polonius. Any scene with him was hilarious, especially when Hamlet mocks him. The lead player's recitation of Pyrrhus and Priam because 1) you can just see the cogs in Hamlet's brain turning, 2) it goes completely over Polonius' head, 3) Hamlet keeps shushing Polonius when he interrupts. :biggrin5: The Death of Gonzago, with Hamlet filming Claudius' and Gertrude's responses with a hand-held camera. Again, I like the use of framing devices to focus our attention. And it was a nice twist on the whole play-within-a-play thing. Ophelia's insanity scene - I quite liked her grungy and bleeding with her arms full of foliage. And Hamlet's death in Horatio's arms was more touching than, I felt, any other scene in the play.
Lowlights: I didn't particularly like the gravedigger scene. In fact, it felt like once the production moved outside the castle of Elsinore, the atmosphere lost much of its menace and gravitas. The final death scene felt contrived to me, esp. Laertes constantly falling then raising his head up for more lines. Finally, I wish the director had not cut the final scene when Fortinbras comes. I wanted to see Horatio keep his word to Hamlet and start to tell the his story. I thought it would've been a nice things-come-full-circle kind of ending.
I voted for Ken Branagh's version, though I haven't Jacobi's or Burton's. I really hated Ethan Hawke's performance.
Recently saw the RSC's film version of Hamlet with David Tennant and Patrick Stewart, etc.
Thought it was the best yet!
Of course they copied the CCTV idea from Kenneth Branagh's remake of Sleuth
http://www.amazon.com/Sleuth-Michael...2825990&sr=1-1
But it was excellent nevertheless.
Of course Branagh's Hamlet is a modern classic; and Gibson's ain't all that bad...
Gibson's is okay but it was a bit too Oedipal.
I've seen bits and pieces of a lot of versions, but I've seen the Tennant version all the way through. I loved every bit of it. It accessible without being patronizing, dramatic without having overacting, and just plain excellent. Patrick Stewart is, at any rate, the best Claudius I've ever seen.
Thoughts, questions, comments? =]
I'll jump in.
A few other Hamlets available for rent or sale are:
the Russian one http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Mr-Bong...ef=pd_cp_mov_0
the Campbell Scott one http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-Lewis-A...7695828&sr=1-1
the Christopher Plummer one http://www.amazon.com/Hamlet-at-Elsi...7695858&sr=1-1
I get something from every Hamlet I watch. I really wish I could have seen the Michael Sheen one at the Young Vic. Set in an insane asylum.
I had to cast my vote for Burton's fiery interpretation of Hamlet...angry, rebellious, dangerous (though I must admit I haven't seen Tennant's performance, and I love his work in general).
How did Kenneth Branagh get so many votes? His Hamlet was acceptable but hardly the best.
I used to think Derek Jacobi's Hamlet was too camp but actually the effeminacy is spot on. If you make the character too "manly" as Branagh and Gibson did, it doesn't make sense why he fails repeatedly to kill Claudius. Hamlet is not a superhero- he is a weak man being forced to do a strong thing.
Oop, just found the Nicol Williamson one online, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN0y2...eature=related
Hang it all, I found a complete version of Richard Burton's "Electronovision" performance online and now I've lost it!!!! Thought I'd bookmarked it but . . . Can anyone help?
ETA:
Never mind -- found it! In case anyone else is interested:
http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/ha...gud-john-1964/
What did you think of Burton?
While there are several admirable performances in the poll, for 'my money', Campbell Scott delivers the one that resonates most completely - though, as John Gielgud said, 'You never get him'. And he tried 5 (6?) times. As the great Stella Adler taught - and I'm no scholar or authority, and probably, greatly, over-simplifying - it's never 'you' on stage but the character. One must not rely on 'the words' alone, but the world of the character. 'Something is rotten in Denmark', and as the Prince and royalty, and all that 'Wittenberg' implies, this guy is torn to pieces inside - and stating the obvious - on many levels. Mr Scott comes the closest, for me, to capturing this layered torment. My main complaint is why does his 'intelligence' always have to render him so precious? I'd love to see a King Cobra hopelessly surrounded by a vicious pack of mongoose. He isn't kidding when he says 'Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd his canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!' Have things ever been that bad...? It's a place of dark and deep ferocity. Not, as they say, for sissies. I agree with the mention of the Russian version. If Mr Scott had Burton's voice and acting chops, you might come close - though I really think that Mr Gielgud has the last word...
Campbell Scott??? Why isn't he on the list? He's my favorite.