Hamlet - Act V: Scene 1 (Nicol Williamson) Gravedigger scene

[BOOMNERD51]

Saw this on stage NYC when I was in high school. His portrayal a favorite for me. Same English teacher Mr. Scott, Westfield, NJ) took us to see "Great White Hope."

[jahaniman]

An outstanding clip.

[paulm396]

He is unquestionably the best screen Hamlet ; head and shoulders above the rest. Both his delivery and his empathy with the playwright are perfect. A great actor and an astonishing performance.

[apeloki]

@paulm396 I agree. I think his performance is perfect. I find Olivier's, by comparison, to be melodramatic and stagey. I love this film version of Hamlet and wish it would find its way to DVD.

[DeafFret]

Good actor but he did a terrible hamlet. He's about as convincing in the role as Basil Brush.

[aCertainSlant]

@jsmog You've obviously read Coleridge on Hamlet, and so has Williamson. Now read Nietzsche (in Twilight of the Idols) and Bradley (in Shakespearean Tragedy) on Hamlet and then tell me how you feel about such a simplistic label. People too often let their own personality shape their interpretation of Hamlet (doing things the other way around would make us richer, both as people and actors). Coleridge was not a man of action, so his Hamlet was not a man of action.

[CassandroJMR]

Nicol Williamson the best Hamlet ever.Richard Burton´s Hamlet is excellent.Olivier is quiet good too,but Finney,Brannagh,Gibson,Kline,C­hamberlain and more are garbage.

[KellyGreen5555]

Olivier, Burton, O'Toole & Branagh were the greatest Hamlets...Nicol Williamson is, by far, the worst.

[tubofjoy]

AMEN TO THAT!

[jsmog]

Williamson is one of the few (none of the actors you listed) who understood that Hamlet was not a great role, but the embodiment of indecision

[KellyGreen5555]

@jsmog Wow, that is one whopper of a statement: Williamson is the ONLY actor who understood the Hamlet role? What are you, a relation? Only friends & family say kind things when the truth hurts.

[aCertainSlant]

@KellyGreen5555 Have you seen Jacobi's Hamlet? He was something of Branagh's mentor, but his Hamlet is far more nuanced. If you watch it, don't let the low production value bias you against the acting.

All the actors you list are, in my opinion, overly influenced by Bradley. But Nietzsche's Hamlet comes out with Jacobi.

[KellyGreen5555]

@aCertainSlant Thanks for the heads up on Jacobi...I will certainly check it out.

[al1936ful]

@KellyGreen5555 And you obviously don't know what you're talking about if you dislike so many good Hamlets.

[KellyGreen5555]

@al1936ful You're funny!

[al1936ful]

@CassandroJMR And you obviously don't know what you're talking about if you claim so many of those Hamlets are garbage.

Nicol Williamson is far from being the best Hamlet. Branagh is the best, and Kline is the best American-born Hamlet there is, as well as the finest American Shakespeare actor alive right now.

[SPARTANZODIAC007]

@al1936ful branagh certainly is best and he directed.

[diddymuck]

@al1936ful best screen hamlet? Burton's videotaped, theatrically released performance directed by John Gilgude strikes me as a more venerable, done-on-stage option with Dick being all he can be, including comedic, in his performance!

[3555ashley]

Best gravedigger I've yet seen and believe me I've seen them all. He makes him a real human being and doesn't try to make him a professional comedian trying to milk the scene for everything it is or isn't worth. Williamson is quite good too. After suffering through Olivier and Branaugh's Hamlet, among many others, it's quite refreshing.

[trashysinatra]

Another genius posting - well done s&m.

Speaking as a scottish film buff. i rate roger livesey as one of england's great actors. Curious movie loving onlookers might wish to check out I Know Where I am Going, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and ....

again congrats to s&m.

[trashysinatra]

me culpa. Roger, as I should have known, was welsh.

Thus one of Wales' and UK's greats.