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  • Screen Adaptations: Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The Relationship between Text and Film by Samuel Crowl
  • Laura M. Nelson
Screen Adaptations: Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The Relationship between Text and Film. By Samuel Crowl. New York: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2014. Cloth $78, Paper $25.95, eBook $18.99. 176 pages.

Walk into any bookstore or library and you will find shelf upon shelf of books by and about William Shakespeare. Several of those shelves will be dedicated to Shakespeare and film. Samuel Crowl’s Screen Adaptations: Shakespeare’s Hamlet: The Relationship between Text and Film joins Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and The Tempest in presenting the work of William Shakespeare in film treatment, investigating plays’ journeys from text to screen. Crowl’s entry in the Screen Adaptation series compares and contrasts two major film adaptations of Hamlet, perhaps Shakespeare’s most popular play and one that has received numerous film interpretations. By comparing the Laurence Olivier version from 1948 to the 1996 Kenneth Branagh version, Crowl is able to scrutinize not only the differences in the films themselves, but also the cultural context of the times in which they were released. Olivier and Branagh are both well known to stage and screen audiences as interpreters of Shakespeare’s plays. Crowl has written extensively on the topic of Shakespeare and film, including The Films of Kenneth Branagh (2006). His expertise on the subject matter is evident in his knowledge of the play itself and in the depth of his analysis of the film versions.

Chapter one places Hamlet in its literary context. While presenting the play’s history, Shakespeare’s sources for writing the play, and general information about the text, Crowl also introduces the topics considered by filmmakers in determining the concept of the adaptation. A dramaturgical discussion of theme, character analysis, and cultural importance illuminates the decisions made by Olivier and Branagh in deciding what to present and what to eliminate from Shakespeare’s original text. An extensive discussion of Hamlet’s production history positions Olivier and Branagh as worthy contributors to the canon of Hamlet performance. In the twentieth century, Freud and psychoanalytical theory played an important role in literary analysis with Hamlet perfectly illustrating the concepts of Freudian theory and the formation of the Oedipal Complex. This will prove to be a key ingredient in Olivier’s adaptation discussed in chapter two. In considering Hamlet in the later [End Page 174] twentieth century, Crowl follows the evolution of performance leading to Kenneth Branagh’s 1988 stage performance and his eventual film adaptation in chapter three.

Chapter two describes Olivier’s 1948 film production of Hamlet, with Olivier serving as writer, director, and portrayer of the title role. Film adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays require significant editing to fit within the standard time expectations of 90 to 150 minutes. Olivier, along with his writing partner Alan Dent, trimmed the text to a manageable length by focusing the story as an intimate family drama, eliminating much of the political intrigue found in the full length play and enhancing the Freudian aspects of the story. The Oedipal relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is at the heart of the film, augmenting the jealousy and rage that Hamlet displays toward Claudius. The film’s score, written by William Walton, and its setting and atmosphere create a somewhat oppressive world where characters move in and out of the shadows both literally and figuratively.

In chapter three, Crowl’s description of Kenneth Branagh’s film is in stark contrast to the Olivier piece in almost every aspect of film production. Branagh also wrote, directed, and acted in his film version of Hamlet, but there the similarities end. Eschewing the conventions of film length, Branagh was determined to film every line in Shakespeare’s text resulting in a film that is 238 minutes long. While Olivier’s film was shadowy and moody, Branagh’s is bright and almost garish. Filmed at Blenheim Palace, Branagh’s film revels in the political intrigue of a bustling and robust royal court full of bluster and larger-than-life characters; this in contrast to Olivier’s intimate, psychological family drama. Branagh’s Hamlet is full of sly energy and...

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