Hamlet (1948 film)

Hamlet
Hamlet
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Laurence Olivier
Screenplay by	Laurence Olivier; (uncredited)
Based on	Hamlet; by William Shakespeare
Produced by	Laurence Olivier
Starring	Laurence Olivier
Cinematography	Desmond Dickinson
Edited by	Helga Cranston
Music by	William Walton
Production; company	Two Cities
Distributed by	Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
Release date	4 May 1948;
Running time	155 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£527,530
Box office	$3,250,000 (US rentals) or £1,352,200

Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director and the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed (the 1936 As You Like It had starred Olivier, but had been directed by Paul Czinner). Hamlet was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.^[6] It is the first sound film of the play in English.

Olivier's Hamlet is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. However, it proved controversial among Shakespearean purists, who felt that Olivier had made too many alterations and excisions to the four-hour play by cutting one-and-a-half-hours' worth of content. Milton Shulman wrote in The Evening Standard: "To some it will be one of the greatest films ever made, to others a deep disappointment. Laurence Olivier leaves no doubt that he is one of our greatest living actors... his liberties with the text, however, are sure to disturb many."^[7]

^ Street, Sarah. (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum. p.110
^ Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. p. 275.
^ ^a ^b Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 354. Income is in terms of producer's share of receipts.
^ Street, Sarah. (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum. p.107
^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
^ Robertson, Patrick. The Guinness Book of Almost Everything You Didn't Need to Know About the Movies. Great Britain: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., Enfield, Middlesex, 1986. ISBN 978-0-85112-481-0, p. 40
^ Tanitch, Robert. (1985) Olivier. Abbeville Press.

[sarah-1] Street, Sarah. (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum. p.110

[sue-2] Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. p. 275.

[money-3] Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 354. Income is in terms of producer's share of receipts.

[4] Street, Sarah. (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum. p.107

[5] "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46

[6] Robertson, Patrick. The Guinness Book of Almost Everything You Didn't Need to Know About the Movies. Great Britain: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., Enfield, Middlesex, 1986. ISBN 978-0-85112-481-0, p. 40

[7] Tanitch, Robert. (1985) Olivier. Abbeville Press.

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