Hamlet
1964: Grigori Kozintsev

1964 was a big year for productions of Hamlet; this is one of the more unusual. It’s a Russian (and of course Russian language) portrayal of the play.

Visually, it echoes some of the elements of Olivier’s black-and-white 1948 film, but Kozintsev has his own vision, and it’s a striking production. I do not speak Russian, and so cannot say anything useful about the delivery of the speeches, or the suitability of the translation. There are, however, some very engaged players, delivering what looks like a very impassioned performance of Hamlet. If in fact they were discussing yesterday’s breakfast special at the studio cafeteria, I wouldn’t know it, but they’re doing so in a very Hamlet-like way.

Assuming I’m not missing something importantly wrong in the Russian, this contains no particular objectionable material. For obvious reasons, this is still not a good choice for the first viewing of English-speaking students.

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