ando wrote:...his performance is too theatrical and his direction too lumberous....He overplays the Oedipal theme and does little to give Shakespeare's poetry any real dynamism - the epitome of which is the To be or not to be soliloguy that is quoted above.
Nothing could be more deadly in cinematic terms than a dreamy Hamlet atop a cloud capped hill mumbling the initial few lines of the famous speech. In plain terms, here is a character considering suicide or at the very least, ending the trouble inherent in living a human life. As written, Hamlet is looking for an end to the suffering. As played by Olivier, he is already halfway in the grave...
Yeah, I usually hear complaints about 3 things: 1) Olivier's too old, 2) the performance is too mannered and brooding, 3) the Oedipal interpretation.
It's interesting for a second, but in the end, the Oedipal interpretation doesn't do wonders for this picture. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to overwhelm the picture, even if you're reminded of it throughout the story.
The thrashing Olivier gets, I dunno...yeah, it would've been more 'appropriate' if he was younger, but nothing's gonna change that and I'm already watching the movie, so that's something I try to get over quickly. It's occasionally too theatrical - the worst may be Ophelia's flashback, when she explains her suspicions of madness...seriously, having the audience see Olivier act out every word Ophelia reads/writes was a tactical error.
Still, I actually like what he's done with his performance as a whole. I've had minimal exposure to
Hamlet on stage or film, but I recall Olivier's interpretation bringing out Hamlet's sense of humor a bit more - he may be teetering on despair or bitterly angry, but he isn't completely given to doom and gloom...his scene with Polonius is wonderfully sarcastic, as is the way his face lights up during the graveyard scene when he clutches Yorick.
Some of the matinee idol moments were a bit much. The brief glimpse of his dealing with the pirates (as read in a letter to Horatio) which seemed lifted out of a Douglas Fairbanks picture or someone like that, killing his uncle/stepfather with such élan, etc. I'll concede that it does work during the duel, that was exciting stuff...
I hesitate to call it brilliant, but changing between voice-over and spoken dialogue was an admirable experiment, and it mostly works.
Also, the set design may be a little much, but it works very well with what he's trying to accomplish - the way halls and bridges seems to wind endlessly, with so much is placed in the distance through corridors.
Not one of my favorites, as a whole, the picture is still flawed and doesn't approach Kurosawa or Welles's interpretations, but there's plenty to like, especially in Olivier's performance (even if I do have reservations about it).
