The first scene of Zeffirelli's Hamlet, a wake for Hamlet's father, doesn't exist in Shakespeare: the dialogue has been trimmed from elsewhere in the play and made to work in a different context. This typifies Zeffirelli's approach to the material, which is decidedly non-reverential. He isn't afraid to take liberties with the material, or to eliminate descriptive exposition in favour of showing us the actual events. The result is perhaps the most accessible filmed version of the play: this is, after all, the version of Hamlet that the Alicia Silverstone character in Clueless could quote.

The extent to which this accessibility is a good thing is a matter of taste. There's a lot to be said for pruning the play - it returns some of the clarity that time has stolen. This version could hardly be cut further: it's almost soliloquy-free, so that "to be or not to be" seems like a grudging concession to tradition. With little but the most essential dialogue left, this is probably as clear to modern ears as Shakespeare will get. The film also benefits from many small touches that bring a freshness to the familiar material. An example is the ghost of Hamlet's father, who is far from a supernatural presence: Paul Scofield leans wearily against a battlement as he tells Hamlet of his murder. Visually the film is a treat too, with surprisingly sunny Scottish locations making a spectacular Elsinore (you feel you're getting a look at what the castle in Olivier's version looked like during the day).

Of course, Shakespeare can live or die on the strength of the cast. Mel Gibson, in the lead, was a very pleasant surprise. I don't mean to put down Gibson with this, as he has been excellent elsewhere before. Yet I was still caught unawares by the strength of his work here: he gives a very empathetic performance that remains coherent despite the Prince's erratic and inscrutable behaviour. Alan Bates and Ian Holm (as Claudius and Polonius, respectively) lead the impressive supporting cast: both are strong, if not exceptional. Helena Bonham-Carter is a winsomely bewildered Ophelia, effective despite the even more truncated than usual nature of her part. The only real weak link is Glenn Close, decidedly unimpressive as Gertrude: she never quite seems to find any strong attitude to take to the character.

Despite the strong performanes, I remained fairly indifferent to this Hamlet. Zeffirelli is right not to be afraid of the text, but I felt by the end that too much had been cut. The worst example (already alluded to) was Ophelia's madness; undermotivated at the best of times, it here seemed particularly arbitrary. (I can imagine a first time viewer failing to make the link to Polonius' death). This is unfortunately typical of the film's entire treatment, in which events seem to happen at random, and far too suddenly. (I kept saying to myself "What? They're up to that already?"). Zeffirelli also hits trouble on a couple of the occasions in which he switches Shakespeare's verbalised events to visualised ones. The death of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is one example of this device not quite working: even less successful is the odd compromise depicting Ophelia's drowning. We don't see it, exactly, but on the other hand we don't really get the drama of Gertrude breaking the news either.

See it, though, if only for Gibson.

Related Items

For my review of the Laurence Oliver 1948 version click here.