Hamlet (1921)
Directed by Svend Gade, Heinz Schall

Film 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.  (It is worth noting that Sarah Bernhardt was the first actor to play the cursed Dane on screen in a short film made in 1900 entitled Le Duel d'Hamlet. The first man to play Hamlet was Georges Méliès in a film made seven years later.) 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.  (A 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 verbal 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. The film holds up well compared with better known film versions of the play, including Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948) and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).

Film Synopsis

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…