Hamlet

Alternative title: Hamlet: The Drama of Vengeance
Synopsis: Feature film which presents Hamlet as a princess. While the King of Denmark is seriously ill his wife gives birth to a daughter, telling the court that a son has been born in order to safeguard the crown. The King recovers and the baby is raised as a boy. From this follows Hamlet’s secret passion for Horatio and rivalry with Ophelia for his love. Gertrude is presented as conspiring in her first husband’s murder. Hamlet kills Claudius in a fire immediately upon returning from Norway with an army led by old school friend Fortinbras, and it falls to Gertrude to engineer Hamlet’s death in the fencing match as well as kill herself by accidentally drinking the poisoned wine.
Country: Germany
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release: 1920
Duration: 86 mins; 7,764 feet

Director

Heinz Schall; Svend Gade

Cinematographer

Axel Graatkjaar; Curt Courant

Screenplay

Erwin Gepard

Costume

Hugo Baruch; L. Verch

Cast

Notes: The viewing copy held by the BFI National Archive is 6,610ft (73mins) has English flash titles.
History: HAMLET had its premiere in Berlin 4 February 1921.
Reviews: Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (p272-8, 375-6). Ball gives a detailed account of the film’s various sources.

Howard, Tony. Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film, and Fiction. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

Thompson, Ann. ‘Asta Nielsen and the Mystery of Hamlet’ in Boose Lynda, E. & Richard Burt (eds). Shakespeare the Movie: Popularizing the Plays on Film, TV and Video (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 215-224.

Buchanan, Judith. ‘Asta Nielsen and Emil Jannings: stars of German Shakespeare Films of the early 1920s.' Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009). pp. 217-251.

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British Universities Film & Video Council