Hamlet Skewered

While perusing the DVD section at the local library, I noticed a Hamlet that I had not seen before.  This one was part of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 series.  I had seen advertisements for the episode on Amazon, but it was nothing on which I had thought to spend money.  Feeling adventuresome (and enjoying the free loan of a library), I decided to borrow the DVD and give it a view.

This version of Hamlet comes from a 1960 German TV production.  The title character is played by Maximilian Schell, in a starring turn contemporary with his Oscar-winning performance in Judgment at Nuremberg (which, ironically, I had watched the previous night).  None of the other actors were familiar to me.  The film was dubbed into English from its original German language.  Hamlet sounded very much like Schell himself, whom I knew to be bilingual (at least).  Claudius' dubbed voice was instantly recognizable as Ricardo Montalban, a fact confirmed by IMDb.

The film was advertised as dark and dreary, and it certainly fit that bill.  The set was very stark and minimal.  The costuming was very dark and traditional.  The acting was very stark and minimal.  The overall atmosphere definitely fits a Shakespearean tragedy, even if it is over-the-top depressing.

It's hard to tell how much of the original Shakespearean story is here.  According to IMDb, the film ran 152 minutes.  The MST3K version is 92 minutes, but that includes numerous interruptions.  I did note a few alterations.  The altercation between Hamlet and Ophelia occurred before the "To be or not to be" soliloquy, which was delivered in part while Hamlet lied prone on a staircase.  During the duel scene, it was made obvious that Osric is a part of the conspiracy against Hamlet.  The chalice was poisoned by addition of a tablet; the pearl itself was not poisoned.

Part of the charm of watching an MST3K film is supposed to be the running commentary.  In this case, I found the jokes to be lame and generally unfunny.  The commentators tried way too hard to poke fun at a Hamlet that probably could have drawn more laughs on its own.  There were only a couple of laugh out loud lines--"Trick or treat for nipples!" and "Hail Queen Dilbert's boss!"  Aside from those, I found the commentary to be increasingly distracting and annoying.  I ended up fast-forwarding through the extra segments in order to get back to Hamlet.

The series creators' purpose backfired here.  Instead of trashing the film for the sake of humor, it made me hope to find the film on video some day, maybe even in the original German and with subtitles.  (It seems to be unavailable, although audio versions are out there.)  I'm sure that it won't rate very near the top of film versions, but I would like to see it in its entirety, without the running commentary.  I'll keep an eye out for it.