Hamlet (1948 film)

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Hamlet is a 1948 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Hamlet. It stars Laurence Olivier, Eileen Herlie and Jean Simmons, and was adapted by Olivier, Reginald Beck and Anthony Bushell. It was directed by Olivier.

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Academy Awards

Award	Person
Best Actor in a Leading Role	Laurence Olivier
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White	Roger K. Furse Carmen Dillon
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White	Roger K. Furse
Best Picture	Laurence Olivier
Nominated:
Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Jean Simmons
Best Score	William Walton
Best Director	Laurence Olivier

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Trivia

Herlie, who plays Hamlet's mother, was 28 years old when the movie was filmed. Olivier, who plays her son, was 41.

In the past, the 1948 film was often considered to be the definitive cinematic rendition of Hamlet. Over the years, however, it has lost some of its status - especially in comparison to Olivier's versions of Henry V and Richard III, mostly because Olivier, according to some critics, overemphasized Hamlet's Oedipal fixation on his mother, and because Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two of the most important supporting characters in the play, were completely omitted from this film version, robbing the film of what could have been some of its best dramatic moments. In 1996, Kenneth Branagh's film version of the complete Hamlet brought out the faults of the Olivier Hamlet even more sharply, by including everything that Olivier had omitted, and by having what many say is a better supporting cast than the 1948 film. But despite all this, the performances, the photography, the art direction and the musical score of the Olivier Hamlet have always been very highly regarded. Olivier is still considered by many the definitive Hamlet, although many modern viewers consider Branagh's and even Mel Gibson's Hamlet definitive. The 1948 Hamlet was the only film in which the leading actor has directed himself to an Oscar-winning performance, until 1997, when Roberto Benigni directed himself to an Oscar in Life is Beautiful.