Hamlet

"Hamlet" by William ("We all make his praise") Shakspeare is arguably the greatest play ever written - in fact, it's possibly the greatest work of literature ever written in the English language. Given these facts, imagine my surprise when Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the recently defunct TV show in which bad movies are goofed on by a janitor and his two robots) decided to give this their special treatment.

Specifically, they did this 1960 production for German Television, featuring the highly respected Maximilian Schell in the title role. Now laugh I as I did along with the jokes made at the movie's expense, I really can't see too much wrong with the movie. Herr Schell is more than credible as the Melancholy Dane, and the dark dreary scenery only serve to underscore the mood of the play and its characters. As for dialogue, well how could you possibly go wrong?

As for complaints that much of the play was missing, it must be remembered that our friends at Best Brains had to edit the movie (which as I understand, ran for about 3 hours) to fit their little TV show, which ran for 2 hours, including commercials.

I, for one, am inclined to cut this movie a good bit of slack.

I've seen all kinds of "Hamlet"s.

Kenneth Branagh's was most ambitious, Mel Gibson's was quick and to the point, Laurence Olivier's was the best - hands down. But now we come to Maximilian Schell's take on the Bard.

For one, this is a dubbed version of a German TV production of William Shakespeare's venerable chestnut. But if there's a slower, more plodding, more lethargic and worse-staged version out there somewhere, it must have been acted at grade school-level.

Having seen it on MST3K helps, with Mike and the robots taking jolly good jabs at the old boy, puncturing the profundity of black and white TV, Shakespeare and the wisdom (?) of Germans acting out an English play and making it look like an Ingmar Bergman reject.

Of course, the best parts are the MST riffs. Best lines? "I'm gonna unleash the Great Dane", "I don't think so, 'breather'", "Meet the Beatles", "Hey, Dad, will you help me with my science project" and, my personal favorite, during a party - "Garrison Keillor's leaving Germany (YAAAY!!)".

But then there's Schell, playing Shakespeare's greatest character much like a department store mannequin would, only not as expressive. No doubt he's a great actor, but here he comes off about as well as Paul Newman in "The Silver Chalice". Ever see that one? You GOTTA watch these two on a double-bill!

In the end, this is one instance where it's true that you're much better off to just read the book. At least the book isn't dubbed by Ricardo Montalban.

One star only for this "Hamlet"; ten stars, naturally, for the MST3K version.

Good-night, not-so-sweet prince.

Yes folks that WAS Ricardo Montalban dubbing for Claudius, and his voice, his reading was quite good! That didn't stop the comedian-hosts of MST3K" from making cracks about Cordoba car commercials & "Fantasy Island." I'd say the worst thing about this thing is the cheapness of production (lost of black background, very few set pieces, very simple pieces) and the god-awful dubbing! Maximillian Schell, an excellent actor, is not half-bad as Hammie, but my favorite thing was listening to Ricardo Montalban. "Smiles, everyone, smiles!"

Yay!... I think. It's hard to say. It's hard to have an emotion about a movie that has no emotion. This movie is as sterile as a surgeon's scalpel. For a setting, it has a few stone pillars, some stone seats, a couple stone crosses and some stone actors. They have no emotion! The only thing that saves this movie is the fact that it is Hamlet, and Hamlet is a terrificly written piece of literature. The dubbing really wasn't all that bad though. The voices stuck true to the dull, gloomy, dreary, life-sucking atmosphere the movie gave forth. I have seen this version of Hamlet on the fabulous Mystery Science Theater 3000 three times, and each of the three times, I was on the brink of turning off the TV, despite it being MST 3K.

Not an uplifting production of a drama that deserves so much better.

You'd think that the immortal words of William Shakespeaere would be able to rise above just about anything, but alas bad acting and really bad sets will drag down even the most wonderful playwright. As usual, Hamlet broods over the death of his father. In this version, Elsinore is nothing more than some pillars, stairs, and a lot of black backgrounds. The fact that it's dubbed into English from German doesn't help this production. The actors seem to be forcing the lines from their mouths, and climatic battle between Laertes and Hamlet doesn't have the punch or tension that it should have. It was great seeing this on MST, their satiric tounges ripping into the acting and sets but sparing the dialouge. By the way, we're out of ear poison.