Hamlet (1948)
The motion picture of all time ... for all time!
Director: Laurence Olivier · Writer: Laurence Olivier
Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
Where to watch
fuboTV
HBO Max Amazon Channel
Criterion Channel
HBO Max
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Fandango At Home
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Fandango At Home
Trailer
Director
Cast
Laurence Olivier
Hamlet - Prince of Denmark / Voice of Ghost 
Basil Sydney
Claudius - The King 
Eileen Herlie
Gertrude - The Queen 
Norman Wooland
Horatio - His Friend 
Felix Aylmer
Polonius - Lord Chamberlain 
Jean Simmons
Ophelia 
Terence Morgan
Laertes 
Peter Cushing
Osric 
Stanley Holloway
Gravedigger 
Russell Thorndike
Priest 
John Laurie
Francisco 
Esmond Knight
Bernardo User Reviews (1)
Did you ever notice how Laurence Olivier never looks to camera when he speaks in this film? Even during the most potent of his soliloquies, he always manages to avoid any direct eye contact with the audience! His "Hamlet", here, though, is the definitive representation of this troubled Shakespearian character and combined with an excellently selected cast, we are presented with quite a compelling 2½ hours of tautly directed and gloriously eerily lit tragic drama. His father has been slain and his mother "Gertrude" (Eileen Herlie) has remarried his brother, now the king, "Claudius" (Basil Sydney). "Hamlet" is suspicious that this man had a hand in that murder, quite possibly his mother did too - but he cannot prove anything. That's where his father's ghost helps out - he reveals the secrets of his assassination and his son decides to incorporate these deeds into a play that he hopes, wil…
