Product Details

• Actors: Innokenti Smoktunovsky, Mikhail Nazvanov, Elze Radzinya, Yuri Tolubeyev, Anastasiya Vertinskaya
• Directors: Grigori Kozintsev
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Russian (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Facets
• DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HEWENA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,497 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A spectacle...a large, mobile, realistic rendering of the melodramatic action of the play that depends entirely for its impact upon its striking scenery, the physical sweep of its performance and the grand effects that the camera achieves --New York Times

Kozintsev has thought his interpretation right through to the end with complete consistency, and gives the film a genuinely exciting epic sweep...There's a genuine cinematic imagination at work here --Time Out

Product Description

Considered by many the finest screen adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest work, Grigori Kozintsev’s HAMLET is a spare, haunting interpretation based on a translation by novelist Boris Pasternak. The malevolence afoot in the state of Denmark is magnificently captured by the foreboding black and white cinematography and the dark, dramatic score by composer Dmitri Shostakovich. In addition, acclaimed Russian actors Innokenti Smoktunovsky and Anastasia Vertinskaya offer stellar, award-winning performances. Kozintsev, a peer of Eisenstein’s who worked well into the 1960s, was a master of cinematic technique who finally achieved recognition at the end of his career for his stunning interpretations of Shakespeare. Leading film historian Richard Dyer wrote in the Boston Globe: "Paradoxically, the two most powerful films of Shakespeare plays [HAMLET and KING LEAR] were made not in Great Britain but in the Soviet Union."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest Hamlet, November 23, 2007

By 

MK (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet (DVD)

I do not say this lightly. The visual language is unforgettable: the crashing waves, the jagged cliffs, the colossal menacing castle, and amidst it the supreme elegance of Hamlet. Kozintsev is a master of black-and-white. This film has to be in black-and-white. The shades of gray need to be there: the alternately glittering and raging grays of the waves, the mysterious grays of the rock, the deadening gray of the castle, and the slender figure of Hamlet in stark black-and-white contrasted against them. The score by Shostakovitch is shatteringly intense, and it too has to be this way.

Innokenti Smoktunovski was considered one of the greatest actors in the Soviet Union, and it is easy to see why. His voice is awesome. He moves stupendously. At one level, it is attractive and sexy. At another level, it visualizes the fragility, dignity, and beauty of a human being. The scene of Hamlet dying by the sea--a lone figure leaning languidly against the rock--is one of the most haunting images in film.

Directors and actors too often do `Hamlet' clearly in relation to other `Hamlets', so much so that it can become a bit of a pissing contest--who can do a more fiery or provocative (or popular) version. This Hamlet is free from such baggage. Its authors start from first principles. They focus on creating a work of art in the medium of film. They use the possibilities of film, but the medium never drives the message. Everything--the sets, the close-ups, the camera angles--is there only for artistic expression.

A great work of art is deeply transformative, and this film is.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best screen adaptation., September 10, 2007

By 

MMM "quento" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet (DVD)

From the first scenes, implicitly conveying the fact of the royal death, and Claudius' monolog, split between a herald reading a decree at a town square, courtiers repeating "in equal scale weighing delight and dole" and foreign ambassadors echoing them in their respective languages, and finally the king himself addressing his advisors - you know you are watching a work of a master. Of the three most popular screen adaptations, the classic Olivier's, the roaring Mel Gibson's and the Kenneth Branagh's parody, none is even close to this one. The excellent set and costumes, great acting, outstanding dark, gothic-like black-and-white camera work, Shostakovich's music - everything tells of a masterpiece. Of course, limitations of a screen play are obvious - lots of great lines omitted, added scenes (such as Hamlet on his way to England forging the king's letter, which was borrowed later by Tom Stoppard for his Rozenkrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead) - but it's the ultimate screen play nonetheless.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars awesome film, September 28, 2008

By 

Ted Byrd - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Grigori Kozintsev's Hamlet (DVD)

I have seen the Olivier and the Gibson versions of Hamlet, and this is the one I prefer by far. Not being an authority on anything, I can only say this rendition suits my taste because it seemed a more natural, flowing, presentation without as much of , what seems to me, the theatricality of the other two. Shakespeare, of course, was limited to the boundaries of a stage; this film, by incorporating some sweeping cinematography of the natural surroundings, particularly the restless ocean, adds a profundity that complements the emotionally charged dramatic action. There is an energy in the acting which I have noticed in other good Russian films, and since there is no Hollywood personality cult around the main actors, the talent and attention given to all roles seems more evenly distributed. The actor who portrays Hamlet delivers, in my opinion, one of the best cinema performances ever. Dramatic intensity without overacting is how I would characterize it. There are a few misspelled words in the subtitles, but this is not enough of a defect to seriously detract.