The surface of ceremonies and rituals celebrating the coronation of King Claudius and his marriage to Hamlet’s mother leaves the young prince indifferent. Hamlet’s melancholic nature finds no relief not even in his courtship of Ophelia . However, a nocturnal visit from his father’s ghost changes everything as Hamlet conducts a quest to avenge his father’s death.

Grigori Kozintsev’s renowned Soviet production ranks among the finest adaptations of Shakespeare on film. His strong visual style places the characters on a rich widescreen canvas while preserving the inward dimension of Hamlet’s character. Laurence Olivier, director and star of the Oscar-winning 1948 English production of Hamlet, praised Kozintsev’s version, singling out Innokenty Smoktunevsky’s performance as the definitive screen performance of the Danish Prince.

"A spectacle...a large, mobile, realistic rendering of the melodramatic action of the play that depends entirely for its impact upon its striking scenery, the physical sweep of its performance and the grand effects that the camera achieves" -New York Times

Cast & Crew: Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy / Mikhail Nazvanov / Elza Radzina / Yuri Tolubeyev / Anastasiya Vertinskaya / Vadim Medvedev / Directed by Grigori Kozintsev / Writen by Grigori Kozintsev, Boris Pasternak 1941 Russian translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Awards: Golden Globes 1967, Nominated, Best Foreign Language Film / BAFTA Awards 1966, Nominated, Best Film from any source / BAFTA Awards 1966, Nominated, Best Actor, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy / British Film Institute Award 1964, Won, Sutherland Trophy

Technical: 1964 / 140 minutes / Russian with English subtitles / Mono audio / 2.35 : 1 Black & White / DVD PAL Multi Region / MRBDVD041

Licensed from Contemporary Films on behalf of Mosfilm.

An original trailer: