Customer Reviews

Richard Burton's Hamlet

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Who could resist listening to Richard Burton perform Hamlet? Shakespeare is about the poetry and the heart of poetry is the voice in which it is spoken. Burton's voice gives a life and passion to the role which is wonderful. Add to his the voices of John Gielgud as the ghost and Hume Cronyn as Polonius and what more could a person want?

How about seeing it? Granted, the film quality here is not up to the standards of a modern audience. First of all, this is a recording of an actual Broadway performance and not a true film so the lighting is bad and there aren't as many close-ups as one would expect in a movie. But the darkness and black and white filming actually give the show a moodiness appropriate to the story of Hamlet. Still, there are moments where facial expressions are difficult to make out because of distance and lighting; however, there are also moments of extreme beauty.

On the whole, whatever one might think of the filming, there are a number of good performances here. Burton is, of course, wonderful despite the fact that he leans a little more towards madness than I read into the character. Cronyn plays Polonius with an intelligence often missing in actors who see this character as an old fool. Linda Marsh makes a good attempt at Ophelia which may be the most difficult female character in the Shakespearean canon but it is not definitive. None of the characters was weak so the overall effect is wonderful.

The staging of this version is also worthy of noting. It is done on an almost bare stage with the actors in modern "street clothes." Many people dislike this kind of minimalist theatre but I enjoy it. It takes the focus away from the set and puts it on the actors, where it belongs. All too often in modern theatre (and film) the set overshadows the acting when it should just be there as a support.

Ultimately, people expecting a movie on the order of recent films by the likes of Mel Gibson and Kenneth Brannagh will be disappointed. People who enjoy going to live theatre, however, and who love to hear the beauty of Shakespeare's words will find this film a worthy addition to their collections.

This is simply one of the greatest performances of Hamlet ever presented on the Broadway stage, or any stage for that matter. Richard Burton is phenomenal with kudos to Hume Cronyn for his Polonius. Because of the brilliance of the performance and the historical importance of this recording, the poor video quality is forgivable. This film was beleived lost for many years, and it is a joy to see its re-release on DVD.

4 stars for presentation, 5 stars for performance. I can remember listening to Richard Burton's great HAMLET performance on the Columbia Records Broadway cast album (unfortunatly unavailable on CD).Now I can see him perform in this record of one of the Broadway perfomances. It was worth the long wait. Having been informed that this film was destroyed only to have resurface on this DVD is great news. Unfortunatly the technical aspects of the film are wanting, oftened resembling an old TV Kinoscope. The DVD format does not improve the picture or sound much. Still it is watchable and Burton's great performance (along with the rest of the cast)make it extremely worth while. Maybe now Columbia (or Sony)will reissue the stereo cast album so that the two will complement each other.

I have seen every filmed version of `Hamlet' there is and untold stage perfomances and never - never - have I been so thoroughly convinced of the reality of the drama as I am with this version. Taped during a live stage performance in `64, directed by Gielgud (who first interpreted the role realistically), this film offers brilliant work by Hume Cronyn, Alfred Drake and Linda Marsh - but most of all by Richard Burton who delivers the lines as though they are being spoken for the first time. The entire production has that same quality though - it's the first `Hamlet' I've ever seen where I genuinely felt sorry when Polonius is killed and where I've laughed at the `fishmonger' scene. In black & white, it is certainly not as `showy' as some other filmed versions - but I don't believe there is one better.

I first saw this version of the play in Electronovision, a copy owned by Gary Essert at UCLA in the 60's. As a young theater director with an inordinate love of Shakespeare, I was bowled over by this pared down, black-rehearsal-dress, few props, no frills (and very little "attitude") interpretation of one of the most complex plays in human literature. This play makes the exquisite agonies of it's very fallible human characters available to modern people: the contemplation of suicide, and the nature of honor, revenge, family responsibility, the existence of God and the Devil, death, friensdhip, romantic and profane love. All are laid out in a very human and personal interpretation of Shakespeare. This version of the play demonstrates the magic of Shakespeare's language, that this poetry can still move us 400-plus years later. And Richard Burton, at the height of his powers, not yet ruined by drink and sexual excesses (woweee!). We see ourselves in this strangely postmodern man: concerned, intellectual, deeply feeling, balancing between cynicism and lyricism. With powers of speech far beyond that of most of us mere mortals, he inhabits the stage so completely and with such force that we anticipate seeing (and hearing) him again. These people really did their homework, and they truly understood what the word "ensemble" means; all complete the picture, support the story and work together to give us a clear idea of what this play can mean in the 21st century. I can still hear his voice now. With "flights of angels" singing him to his rest.

35 years ago I was very fortunate to see this masterful piece of work during its limited theatrical release. In my humble opinion , it is Burton's greatest performance. This goes beyond simply Shakespeare's Hamlet. No frills. No distractions. No pretentiousness. Absolutely brilliant and mesmerizing.

I was very excited when this release was announced. It is a fine performance though curious with a Welsh Hamlet against a backdrop of American supporting actors. It is much more complete than either Olivier or Gibson. A fascinating historical document of a Broadway event.

The video and sound, alas, are very disappointing. The interview hypes "Electronovision" as some new technology for presenting Broadway to the masses, but it looks and sounds more like an old kinescope. Don't know what Evision was supposed to do for it. There was a Columbia (CBS, Sony) stereo audio recording (nla) made at the time...had it been of this specific performance (which it wasn't) then they might have synced it to greatly improve the sound.

Meanwhile we must be satisfied to have a flawed (B&W) shadow of a marvelous night at the theater.

This is a trip back in time to an extraordinary set of performances. Burton is fascinating, but I particularly enjoyed the Polonius of Hume Cronyn. Somewhat of a curiousity is the Laertes of John Collum, 8 years before he co-starred in 1776. The production was shot over two days, during actual performances, back in 1964. The video quality shows why this did not become a standard practice (uneven lighting and sound). Nonetheless this is nothing less than a step back to a Broadway dramatic event of 1964, perhaps the premier dramatic event of that year in New York.

On one hand, this disc could be viewed as suffering from a number of problems: it's visually limited to the point of almost not being a movie, the sound is over-reverberant, making he ghost in particular, difficult to understand. At the same time, like Mitropoulos' Mahler Third, the virtues of the performance supercede all other considerations, and and this is the one 'Hamlet' that has come to be 'HAMLET' for me. Burton practically sings the role, as well as endowing it with an energetic, and at times tortured, physicality. The supporting cast is up to his level all the way. The modern dress minimalist staging starkly puts the primal drama where it belongs, out front. And the liveness feeds the whole proceding with an energy unknown in other filmed versions. And back to the ghost, the fact that we never see him, but only his larger-than-life shadow, and that his disembodied voice comes from nowhere and everywhere, makes his presence eerily pre-eminent. The performance is uncut, and riveting for every one of the 191 minutes. Burton is the prince of Hamlets!

"the voice" . . . "the inflection" . . . "the sonorous intonation" . . . "the projection" . . . hallmarks of the late great Richard Burton and never more appropriately performed and delivered than in "Richard Burton's Hamlet".

i was in high-school (in a prep school in Stamford CT) back in 1964 when 'as a class" we attended a novel "movie house" presentation of this broadway performance - some new technology of the time transfered the stage production to film and projection onto the silver screen. and i was so blessed to in that way experience the "presence" of Richard Burton as he "became" Hamlet.

what was also different, the production was performed in casual street clothes . . . no traditional Shakespearean elaborate costuming or stage sets . . . just the actors "in character" creating the magic illusion.

i never thought i'd ever have the opportunity to re-visit and re-live this magic moment of theater . . but here it is: on dvd . . . another miracle of modern technology making the past present once again -- and the ghost of Richard Burtom lives again on stage and once again breathes life into the charter of Hamlet.

it is certainly worth the small cost of this disc to make permanent that fleeting moment . . . and while many great actors have and will tackle the challenge of portraying Hamlet, none will ever surpass the artistry and persona of Richard Burton.

"theater" owes Richard Burton a thank you . . . and "i" say thank you to this magical stage persona. he left us such great memories on film . . and now on this cd disc. "to be or not to be. . ." :)