Hamlet: Plummer, Caine and Sutherland at Elsinore (1964)

After almost 50 years in limbo, the BBC has finally released this performance on DVD. Thank you, Youtubers, for responding so positively to these clips, which will now serve as a trailer for the performance.

No copyright claim.

This video is the biggest collection of excerpts from the program in circulation. The original film was shot at Elsinore Castle in Denmark (now known as Kronborg Castle) and was directed by Philip Saville.

The cast featured Christopher Plummer as Hamlet, Michael Caine as Horatio (in his only filmed shot at Shakespeare), Donald Sutherland as Fortinbras, Robert Shaw as Claudius and Roy Kinnear as the Gravedigger.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• William Shakespeare
• Hamlet
• Christopher Plummer
• Michael Caine
• Donald Sutherland
• Robert Shaw
• Roy Kinnear
• Elsinore
• Kronborg Castle
• BBC

[canadatoque]

Good news: this IS being released on DVD soon.

[panskeptic]

@canadatoque That is good news! Where did you see it announced?

[panskeptic]

@panskeptic Here you are, folks. Check the BBC America website for "Hamlet at Elsinore."

[panskeptic]

This is the most we can get of this film. There has been no commercial release. It is rough, because it has been assembled from many sources. You can only see the whole film in certain museums.

[panskeptic]

I suspect the hangup is that the film was a co-production with Danish Broadcasting. The BBC is desperate to make money from what it has, and is doing a fair job of exploiting the archives. By contrast, I've heard there is a letter from the Danes indicating that they don't even know where their copy of the film is, and that they couldn't care less.

[sharylm]

Greatest Shakespearean actor ever, bar none!

[elfhermie]

This version is coming to DVD soon! Way overdue! Today's Shakespeare is doo doo with way too much monkeying around by directors and actors to bring their own crap to them. Back in the day, the actors/directors let Shakespeare set their sails and they rode the waves magnificently!

[dewhistle]

I could never understand how anyone could find Michael Caine sexy... until now. He's another in a long list of guys I saw in films as a kid who were still considered hot by people who remembered them when they looked like this. But young, pretty-eyed Michael Caine crying over Hamlet's death is more adorable than I ever could have thought of the thick-set dude I saw as a kid.

[rosalindhulse]

@canadatoque what is the release date? i have beem longer for this version for some time,

[canadatoque]

@panskeptic It's listed on the BBC Canada online shop. No release date yet, but it is at least in the works.

[ylva68]

I would have liked to see this.

[legatofancier]

Saw this on TV as a kid and would love to see it again! So very different from Olivier's film! Plummer is one of the best actors that I have ever seen in the theatre. he ws certainly the best Iago I ever saw in Shakespeare's play (I've seen good Jago's in Verdi's opera). Enjoyed Plummer's autobiography & recommend it!