1948 Best Picture:
Hamlet
|
Competition: Johnny
Belinda, The Red Shoes, The Snake Pit, The Treasure of Sierra Madre Other Winners:
Best Actor: Laurence
Olivier, Hamlet
Best Actress: Jane Wyman, Johnny
Belinda
Best Supporting Actor:
Walter Huston, The Treasure of Sierra Madre
Best Supporting Actress:
Claire Trevor, Key Largo
Best Director: John
Huston, The Treasure of Sierra Madre
|
Cast:
Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Basil Sydney, Eileen Herlie, Peter
Cushing, Harcourt Williams
Storyline:
Perhaps
the most celebrated of William Shakespeare's works, and the only one to
ever become an Oscar-winning film, this is the story of Hamlet, the Danish
Prince, who avenges his father's death against his uncle, who takes the
throne, as well as Hamlet's mother. Did it deserve to
win: I suppose it
did! But I can't help thinking that this particular year belonged to
John Huston. This
is a very good interpretation of Hamlet, in fact, who am I kidding - it's
the best there is! This is the defining moment in the career of
Olivier. His work on the British stage was legendary, but for the
world, this film was proof. Forever after, Sir Laurence Olivier would
be regarded as one of the greatest actors of our century. But,
The Treasure of Sierra Madre was so good, and perhaps the best work of
John Huston, not to mention his star, Humphrey Bogart. Huston was
recognized with the Best Directing Oscar, so perhaps it's fitting, as the
two films earned recognition. Critique:
No doubt about it, that
Hamlet is not for all tastes. In fact, first time viewers might want
to get the notes before watching.
Interpretations
of Shakespeare's work require some concentration, but it is well worth
it. The story is Shakespeare, and it has lasted for the past 600
years, so you just know that it's got to be good. I
watch this film thinking about how it would look on stage, and I suspect
that Olivier, when filming it, had past stage productions in mind as
well. I'm no expert, but I suspect that Shakespeare is best
interpreted symbolically for film (as is this film), and not so literally, as it was written
with the confinements of the stage in mind. Olivier
uses dark shadows, and minimal sets, which sets a tone
that is appropriate for a story that was never actually intended for the
wide open spaces that film can provide.
|
Best Scene:
Some mothers do 'ave 'em! When Hamlet
confronts his mother, the drama really starts, and their scene together is
actually heart pounding. If you couldn't follow it before, you can't
keep your eyes off it by this point.
|
|
Behind the Scenes:
Laurence Olivier was forty
three at the time of filming. The part of his mother was played by
Eileen Herlie, who was twenty eight at the time.
This
year marked the beginning of the end of the studio system. The big
studios, MGM, RKO, Paramount, Warner's, and Fox, were ruled to be in
violation of anti-trust laws, that forbade them to be in ownership of both
studios and theatres. It
was also the year that Foreign films began to be recognized. The Red
Shoes, from Britain, was also nominated for Best Picture, and the Italian
film, The Bicycle Thief, was drawing crowds in independent theatres across
the country. Ethel
Barrymore had to eat crow that year. She publicly criticized
Olivier's version of Hamlet, claiming that her brothers performance was
better. At the ceremony, she presented the award for Best Picture to
an absent Olivier. Olivia
de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, the feuding
sisters, were at it again that
year. When Jane Wyman won the Oscar for Best Actress, the nominated
de Havilland (for The Snake Pit) blamed her sister for her loss, after
Joan underwent a serious media campaign for her work that year. Wyman's
win was bittersweet. That year she lost a baby, and later, her
husband, Ronald Reagan.
|
|
|
Laurence
Olivier's defining film gets the Best Picture nod!
|
|
Olivier
plays the title role, the blonde Prince of Denmark.
|
|
Jean
Simmons is Ophelia.
|
|
Hamlet
confides to his friend, Horatio, played by Norman Woodland, that he's
pissed that his mother is marrying his uncle. |
|
Hamlet
and company are confronted by a ghost of his father! |
|
"Get
thee to a nunnery!" Hamlet gets set to dump Ophelia.
|
|
Ophelia
breaks down. |
|
"To
be or not to be!" Hamlet delivers the famous line, from the famous
speech!
|
|
Dr
Who? The dead man on stage is Patrick Troughton, who would later be known
as the second actor to play Dr. Who!
|
|
Hamlet contemplates
killing Claudius.
|
|
Eileen
Herlie plays Hamlet's mother. He hates her for conspiring with the
uncle.
|
|
By this time, Ophelia
is over the deep end. |
|
Basil Sydney, as Claudius, banishes
Hamlet. |
|
Hamlet talks to the skull of his
father's court jester. |
|
Dr. Who? Peter Cushing, the
original Dr. Who, is Osiris. |
|