Unfinished: Every Version of Hamlet, Ranked Worst to Best
Well, not EVERY version, but everything either with a rating, or in the silent era, and maybe a couple other curiosities.
Note that I've only watched maybe 3 versions, and they were the most famous ones (the ones starring Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson, and Ethan Hawke), at least in my circle of influence. Also, there's an awful lot of unrated ones... along with a version by Georges Melies which HAS to be better than a 5.x rating, because he's fantastic.
Note that I've only watched maybe 3 versions, and they were the most famous ones (the ones starring Kenneth Branagh, Mel Gibson, and Ethan Hawke), at least in my circle of influence. Also, there's an awful lot of unrated ones... along with a version by Georges Melies which HAS to be better than a 5.x rating, because he's fantastic.
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- DirectorRoland KenyonRod MacDonaldStarsTricia HitchcockMelanie RevellRichard SpaulHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorJotaarkka PennanenStarsHeikki KinnunenEero MelasniemiSeela SellaHamlet set partly in spectacular natural caves and partly in modern dress in contemporary Helsinki.
- DirectorJosé Rubens SiqueiraCircus child already has to deal with Hamlet's question: "To Be or Not To Be".
- DirectorBrian LargeStarsThomas HampsonNatalie DessayJosé van DamHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorGrigoriy KozintsevStarsInnokentiy SmoktunovskiyMikhail NazvanovElza RadzinaAfter the death of the King of Denmark - Hamlet's father - his brother Claudius ascends the throne, who takes his widow Gertrude as his wife. Hamlet meets the ghost of his father and learns that he was killed by Claudius.
- 1978–19853h 30mTV-148.0 (665)TV EpisodeDirectorRodney BennettJohn GorrieStarsDerek JacobiClaire BloomPatrick StewartHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the Prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorGregory DoranStarsDavid TennantPatrick StewartPenny DownieThe RSC puts a modern spin on Shakespeare's Hamlet in this filmed-for-television version of their stage production. The Prince of Denmark seeks vengeance after his father is murdered and his mother marries the murderer.
- DirectorLyndsey TurnerRobin LoughStarsBenedict CumberbatchCiarán HindsSian BrookeHamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his Uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans his revenge.
- DirectorRobert IckeRhodri HuwIlinca RadulianStarsAndrew ScottJuliet StevensonJessica Brown FindlayHamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
- DirectorBill ColleranJohn GielgudStarsRichard BurtonHume CronynAlfred DrakeThe highly successful 1964 Richard Burton Broadway production of "Hamlet", deliberately staged in the style of a "dress rehearsal", but performed in front of a live audience.
- DirectorSimon GodwinRobin LoughStarsPaapa EssieduTanya MoodieClarence SmithHamlet has the world at his feet. Young, wealthy and living a hedonistic life studying abroad. Then word reaches him that his father is dead. Returning home he finds his world is utterly changed, his certainties smashed and his home a foreign land. Struggling to understand his place in a new world order he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. Simon Godwin (The Two Gentlemen of Verona 2014) directs Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in Shakespeare's searing tragedy. As relevant today as when it was written, Hamlet confronts each of us with the mirror of our own mortality in an imperfect world.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsNicol WilliamsonJudy ParfittAnthony HopkinsAcademy Award-winning director Tony Richardson brings Shakespeare's tragedy to the screen - with searing performances from Nicol Williamson as the melancholy Dane and future Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins as the deceitful Claudius.
- DirectorAlexander FodorStarsWilliam BelchambersMax DavisAlexander FodorSet in a surrealistic, nightmarish, Kafkaesque no man's land, this version of the famous Shakespeare play centres on the ghostly, supernatural aspects of the play. The text is the original Shakepearean, but the characters' personalities are changed, so for example, Polonius (originally a doddering old man) becomes Polonia a scheming femme fatale, who is plotting to get her younger sister Ophelia (who she controls through the use of addictive drugs) married into the royal family. It's dramatically shot, and is not so much a modern version (there are no references or images of the modern world at all) as a lateral concept.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierStarsLaurence OlivierJean SimmonsJohn LauriePrince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsEdvin AdolphsonBirgitta ValbergBengt EkerotPrince Hamlet returns home from the university of Wittenberg to attend his father's funeral. His uncle Claudius, the new King, has announced his brother's widow queen. Claudius asks Hamlet to stop mourn his father.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsEdvin AdolphsonBirgitta ValbergBengt EkerotPrince Hamlet returns home from the university of Wittenberg to attend his father's funeral. His uncle Claudius, the new King, has announced his brother's widow queen. Claudius asks Hamlet to stop mourn his father.
- DirectorJustin ClowStarsJason EmanuelBonny GirouxDes HusseyA version of the classic Shakespeare play performed in Vancouver in 2005.
- DirectorAnya RoseStarsAnya RoseErin HaydenJenny Hayden
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsKenneth BranaghJulie ChristieDerek JacobiHamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsChristopher PlummerRobert ShawAlec ClunesHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the Prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorSvend GadeHeinz SchallStarsAsta NielsenPaul ConradiMathilde BrandtDanish silent movie-star Asta Nielsen formed her own production company to make this film, in which new elements are combined with features (and a few lines) familiar from Shakespeare's version of the legend. The most important of these changes sees Hamlet made into a female character - a princess forced to masquerade as a man by her scheming mother; from this follows Hamlet's secret passion for Horatio and rivalry with Ophelia for his love. Queen Gertrude is here presented as conspiring in her first husband's murder, and the old king's ghost does not appear - young Hamlet merely hears a voice from the tomb and (apparently) dreams of him. In addition, Hamlet now kills Claudius (in a fire) immediately upon returning from Norway with an army led by old school- friend Fortinbras, and it falls to Gertrude to engineer Hamlet's death in the fencing match as well as kill herself by accidentally drinking the poisoned wine.
- DirectorDavid GilesStarsIan McKellenFaith BrookJohn WoodvineHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the Prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorAntoni CimolinoShelagh O'BrienStarsTim CampbellJonathan GoadAdrienne GouldHamlet, Prince of Denmark, is in mourning for his dead father, the king. He's also disturbed by how quickly his mother, Gertrude, has remarried - and by the fact that her new spouse is Claudius, her late husband's brother (and thus Hamlet's uncle). Hamlet's disgust at this incestuous union, which has also robbed him of his succession to the throne, turns to fury when his father's ghost appears and reveals that he was murdered by Claudius. Vowing revenge, Hamlet decides to feign madness until an opportunity presents itself. Polonius, the lord chamberlain, thinks that Hamlet's strange behaviour springs from love for his daughter, Ophelia, but Claudius soon begins to suspect otherwise. The arrival of a travelling theatre company gives Hamlet the idea of re-enacting his father's murder to startle Claudius into revealing his guilt. Claudius is indeed shocked by the performance, but Hamlet's triumph is short-lived; while arguing with his mother in her bedroom, he stabs an eavesdropper hiding behind a curtain, only to discover that it is Polonius he has killed, not Claudius. Claudius sends Hamlet to England, secretly intending to have him put to death there. Meanwhile, Ophelia, driven mad by grief, commits suicide. Hamlet escapes, however, and returns to Denmark, whereupon Claudius urges Laertes to challenge him to a fencing match, in which Laertes will secretly poison the tip of his sword. But when both combatants receive mortal wounds, the dying Laertes reveals the plot, whereupon Hamlet kills Claudius before succumbing to his own inevitable fate.
- DirectorRagnar LythStarsStellan SkarsgårdMona MalmFrej LindqvistPrince Hamlet is the son of the late king. He hears from a ghost that the current king, Claudius, has murdered his father. Hamlet is unsure if this is true. He test the king by pretending to be insane and put on a show where the murder is reconstructed.
- DirectorAaron HendrenStarsCourtney BellAbigail BlueherChad BrummettHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorGoswin MoniacStarsMichael SchenkAntonia MohrWilly MetzelerHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorHenri DesfontainesStarsJacques GrétillatColonna RomanoClaude BenedictHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorKishore SahuStarsPradeep KumarMala SinhaKishore SahuHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorEleuterio RodolfiStarsRuggero RuggeriHelena MakowskaMercedes BrignoneHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorAlbert McCleeryStarsMaurice EvansWesley AddyNorman Barrs
- DirectorAki KaurismäkiStarsPirkka-Pekka PeteliusEsko SalminenKati OutinenPlayboy Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, a paper baron in today's Finland.
- DirectorCelestino CoronadoStarsQuentin CrispHelen MirrenBarry StantonHamlet (Tony Meyer) suspects his uncle, King Claudius (Barry Stanton) has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, Gertrude (Dame Helen Mirren), but the Prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorSarah FrankcomMargaret WilliamsStarsMaxine PeakeJohn ShrapnelBarbara MartenShakespeare's most iconic work, "Hamlet" explodes with big ideas and is the ultimate story of loyalty, love, betrayal, murder and madness. Hamlet's father is dead and Denmark has crowned Hamlet's uncle the new king. Consumed by grief, Hamlet struggles to exact revenge, with devastating consequences.
- DirectorCampbell ScottEric SimonsonStarsCampbell ScottBlair BrownRoscoe Lee BrowneThe classic Shakespeare tragedy is revisioned in America at the turn of the 20th Century. Campbell Scott (Singles, The Spanish Prisoner) adapted, co-directed and stars in the title role with Tony Award winner Blair Brown (Copenhagen) as his mother Gertrude.
- StarsErdal BesikçiogluElit IscanAhmet Rifat SungarShakespeare's darkest tragedy in a modern retelling of family betrayal and horse carriages.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsMel GibsonGlenn CloseAlan BatesHamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
- DirectorRuben KocharStarsNadezhda KharatyanRudolph Kharatyan
- DirectorJotaarkka PennanenStarsHannu KahakorpiKari FranckRitva ArveloHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorDragoljub Ivkov
- DirectorAleksandar RajkovicStarsPetar BozovicIgor DjordjevicMiodrag FisekovicGypsy Hamlet set in a 21st century shantytown in Serbia.
- DirectorCristiano BurlanStarsRejane ArrudaJean-Claude BernadetPaulo BordhinFrom the murder of his father by his uncle, Hamlet is forced to confront its own contradictions and the world around him. In a deconstruction of itself, Hamlet delves into the eternal question of the meaning of existence. Set in a large metropolis, Hamlet is a free adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy.
- DirectorBruce MinnixJoseph PappStarsMichael AlaimoIan CameronStaats CotsworthHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorHay PlumbStarsWalter RinghamJohnston Forbes-RobertsonS.A. CooksonThe opening scene is in Elsinore, where a ghost is seen by the sentinels keeping guard on the battlements of the castle. This is related to Hamlet by his friend Horatio, who describes the spirit as much resembling the late King of Denmark, his deceased father, whom his Uncle Claudius is suspected to have murdered in order that the latter might usurp his throne. Uncle Claudius also married the queen, the mother of Hamlet, within a month after. Hamlet, moved by the narration of Horatio, determines to watch for the next appearance of the ghost. It is seen again at midnight, discloses itself to Hamlet as his murdered parent and relates to him the cruel circumstances of his cruel murder by the king, his uncle, and calls upon Hamlet to avenge it. In order to accomplish this purpose, Hamlet feigns madness, especially in his conduct towards Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, with whom he is enamored. Hamlet engages some players who enact a scene in the presence of the king and queen which displays the murder of his father, purposely to try the king. Claudius, on beholding this, stung by his conscious guilt and fearful of some outward event, determines to rid himself of his nephew by sending him to England. This project is aided by Hamlet, killing Polonius. whom he mistakes for the king and who was concealed behind the arras to listen to the conversation between the queen and her son, who had demanded an interview, Hamlet is by an accident made prisoner by some pirates as he is on his way to England but escapes and unexpectedly returns to Denmark. Previously, he discovers that the ambassadors are instructed by the king's letters to cause him to be put to death on his arrival in England. These letters he exchanges for others containing the same directions for the deaths of the ambassadors. During his absence, Ophelia, distracted through her father's death and her own misfortune, destroys herself, and her brother, Laertes, urged by false rumors concerning his father's demise, rebels against the king, but he abandons his intention on being told that Hamlet committed the deed. A stratagem is evolved by the king in which Laertes basely consents to kill Hamlet by secret means. Claudius wagers six Barbary horses against six French swords with Laertes that in a dozen passes he does not exceed Hamlet by three. Hamlet consents to make a trial and is first wounded by Laertes, who has treacherously used a poisoned weapon. In a scuffle they change swords and Laertes is himself wounded by the same deadly rapier. The king had prepared a poisoned chalice with which he determined to end Hamlet if Laertes failed. In the contents of this, the queen, unconscious that it is drugged, pledges Hamlet and is poisoned. Laertes, in the agony of death, confesses his own perfidy and accuses the king, and Hamlet, with the sword of Laertes, revenges himself by stabbing Claudius. The film concludes with the news of the death of Rosencrantz and Guilderstern through letters forged by Hamlet, and a eulogium oh the unfortunate prince by his friend Horatio and the choice of young Fortinbras for King of Denmark.
- DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorStephen CavanaghStarsJames LeckyYvonne RichardsonStephen CavanaghA young Prince is visited by the Ghost of his father and compelled to vengeance - but can he stop thinking for long enough to do it?
- DirectorPierre CavassilasStarsGérard DesartheNada StrancarWladimir YordanoffHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorClément MauriceStarsSarah BernhardtPierre MagnierSuzanne SeylorThe final duel in 'Hamlet', in the first film of the play.
- DirectorMichael AlmereydaStarsEthan HawkeKyle MacLachlanDiane VenoraModern-day New York City adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal story about Hamlet's plight to avenge his father's murder.
- DirectorGérard BourgeoisStarsJean Mounet-SullyHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorInari TeiniläJouko TurkkaStarsTero JarttiJarmo MäkinenJari PehkonenHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorSohrab ModiStarsSohrab ModiNaseem BanuShamshadbaiModi is Hamlet in this film version of the highly popular stage performance surrounded by the same principal cast: Banu as Ophelia, Shamshadbhai as Gertrude, etc. It is the story of prince Hamlet whose dead father comes back as a ghost to haunt Hamlet until he avenges his death. Hamlet is then on the horns of a dilemma as he ponders over his fate as his mother herself was involved in his father's assassination.
- DirectorMichael MundellStarsWilliam HoustonGuy AdamsJilly BondHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorSimon BowlerStarsDavid MelvilleBernadette SullivanDanny CampbellShakespeare's Hamlet -- Dogma style.
- DirectorBruce RamsayStarsBruce RamsayLara GilchristPeter WingfieldShot on a micro-budget in only three days, Ramsay's adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal play premiered in competition at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2011.
- DirectorMario CaseriniStarsDante CappelliMaria CaseriniHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorAugust BlomStarsAlwin NeußAage HertelElla La CourHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorMario CaseriniStarsFernanda Negri PougetHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorDick DouglassStarsLuing AndrewsTaz BearAndrew CalverleyThe King of Denmark is dead. Prince Hamlet is summoned home to Denmark to attend his father's funeral, only to discover Denmark has crowned Hamlet's Uncle the new King and his Mother is his new Queen.
- DirectorFranz Peter WirthStarsMaximilian SchellHans CaninenbergWanda RothaHamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother remarrying the murderer, his uncle.
- DirectorNigel TommThe Prince of Denmark sees a ghost.
- DirectorGiles Alderson
- StarsBarry FosterJennifer DanielSydney TaflerHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorSean MathiasStarsBen AllenFrancesca AnnisFrances BarberShakespeare's timeless story of revenge is reimagined as a modern psychological thriller. The classic tragedy transcends the stage through a unique, contemporary lens.
- StarsJohnston Forbes-RobertsonGertrude ElliotHamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.
- DirectorAlek SabinAnna LenschStarsBrandon ArnoldTyler BowersZach JohnsonIn 1892, amidst the mountains of pioneer Utah, a young man named Hamlet must find it within himself to take action against Claudius, the man who killed his father and married his mother.
- DirectorBryan FerriterStarsBryan FerriterRyan PfeifferMary RiitanoAn adaptation of William Shakespeare's timeless classic, Hamlet
- DirectorSerge van VeggelStarsLucie ChartinQuirijn de LangYavuz Arman IslekerA Danish prince becomes melancholic after the death of his father. But when the late king appears as a ghost and claims that he was murdered, events spiral out of control. Ambroise Thomas's adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal play was one of the most popular grand opéras of its day. Inspired by the rich tradition of film noir, OPERA2DAY's new production merges opera and film to penetrate deep into Hamlet's mind, revealing his hidden memories, visions, and dreams.
- TV Movie
- DirectorFlorin SerbanStarsCosmina StratanAndreea GramosteanuIgor BabiacA theatre director intends to make a revolutionary version of Hamlet. It all starts with finding the right actors and putting their lives in danger.
- DirectorAneil KariaStarsRiz AhmedMorfydd ClarkJoe AlwynA modern adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', set in London.