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Hamlet
1921 Drama
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Credits
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Director: Sven Gade, Heinz Schall
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Script: Erwin Gepard, Prof. E. Vining, based on the play by William Shakespeare
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Photo: Curt Courant, Axel Graatkjaer
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Cast: Asta Nielsen (Prince Hamlet),
Fritz Achterberg (Fortinbras),
Mathilde Brandt (Gertrude),
Paul Conradi (King Hamlet),
Anton De Verdier (Laertes),
Lilly Jacobson (Ophelia),
Hans Junkermann (Polonius),
Heinz Stieda (Horatio),
Eduard von Winterstein (Claudius)
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Country: Germany
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Language: German
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Runtime: 131 min; silent
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Summary
Hamlet, king of Denmark, returns from the war against Norway badly wounded. At the
same time, Gertrude, his queen, gives birth - to a daughter. Fearing that the king
will die, and anxious to protect the royal line, the queen insists the news be given that
she has produced a male heir. The years pass, and no one except the king and queen
know that their child, the Prince Hamlet, is a young woman. The king’s brother,
Claudius, is in love with Gertrude, and he murders the king so that he can take his wife,
his title and his wealth. When she learns of her uncle’s treachery, Hamlet resolves
to take revenge…
Review
The legendary Danish film actress Asta Nielsen stars in this compelling silent screen
adaptation of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" in which, controversially, the title character is
shown to be a woman masquerading as a man. The idea that Hamlet was a woman
was proposed by Edward P. Vining in his book “The Mystery of Hamlet” and is not quite
as implausible as it may first appear. Hamlet’s drive to avenge the death of his
father, his obvious devotion to Horatio and his ambivalent relationship with Orphelia
are just three of many indicators that the Prince of Denmark is not quite what he seems.
(Of course, a much more credible explanation is that Hamlet is a closet homosexual.)
In most other respects, Sven Gade and Heinz Schall’s film sticks pretty closely to
the narrative of Shakespeare’s play. Of course, being a silent film, the oral poetry
of the original play is lost, but this is at least partly made up for by the visual poetry
of the moody expressionist photography. By using real exteriors and spacious elaborate
interiors, the film conveys a sense of scale and historical realism which is quite impressive
for a film of this period. The style of the film is suggestive of a Gothic nightmare,
a precursor of the highly stylised horror fantasies of the German silent era, with its
clear delineation of villains and victims and emphasis on psychological disorder.
The film, one of the treasures of early German cinema, was restored by the German Film
Institute and the German television channel ZDF, with support from the Franco-German television
network ARTE. The restored colour version, released in 2007 having premiered at
the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, is a composite of the surviving tinted and
hand-coloured prints.
© James Travers 2007
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