Hamlet (1956 film)

"Hamlet (1956 film)"
ITV Play of the Week episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 23
Directed byPeter Brook
Based onHamlet by William Shakespeare
Original air dateFebruary 27, 1956 (1956-02-27)

Hamlet is a 1956 British television play, an adaptation of Peter Brook's Phoenix Theatre production of the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare.[1] It was filmed for television at the end of the play's run and consisted of scenes from the play interspersed with Brooks' narration.[2][3]

Cast

Reception

The Birmingham Evening Mail called it "honest and moving".[4] The Evening Sentinel called it "one of the best television occasions of recent times... wonderfully compelling."[5]

The Birmingham Post thought Scofield "gives a moving performance" and "pictorially the production was very moving though occasionally the cameras over used the close up".[6]

The Daily Telegraph wrote "lovers of the play, I imagine, hardly found this filetted edition satisfactory. But as a sort of 'Shakespeare without tears' for the homes of those still unfamiliar with the dramatist, the experiment served admirably."[7]

References

  1. ^ "Paul Scofield's Hamlet". Birmingham Evening Mail. 24 February 1956. p. 2.
  2. ^ Trewin, J. C. (1971). Peter Brook: a biography. Macdonald and Co. p. 93.
  3. ^ "On the airwaves". Daily Mirror. 25 February 1956. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Stop watch Hamlet". Birmingham Evening Mail. 28 February 1956. p. 4.
  5. ^ "Hamlet - one up to ITV in the cultural war". Evening Sentinel. 29 February 1956. p. 5.
  6. ^ "Hamlet on ITV". The Birmingham Post. 28 February 1956. p. 14.
  7. ^ "TV drama". The Daily Telegraph. 28 February 1956. p. 8.