Mr. Olivier may be looked upon, after this picture, as the most distinguished actor and director in the cinematic world. He has performed a service to art that cannot be measured. He has given us a mark to aim at for the next generation.

| Aug 17, 2022

Here is Hamlet, the ghost story, the revenge plot, the action-filled melodrama, the character study, the fount of great language, the well-spring of thought... Here, in short, is one of the great movies of our day.

| Aug 17, 2022

Whatever the omissions, the mutilations, the mistakes, this is very likely the most exciting and most alive production of Hamlet you will ever see on the screen.

| Jul 28, 2022

Its alliance of literature, theatre, and art is peerless proof that the screen can be brought to treat a wild dark poem of the mind, of unseen and unseeable things, in terms that do not corrupt great thought nor stultify cinema.

| Jan 29, 2020

Add to Sir Laurence as Hamlet a cast that is equal to each role, and we have the perfect production.

| Jan 29, 2020

Altogether Hamlet is one of the most impressive films ever made and, so far as Shakespeare's work is concerned, it need never be done again on stage nor for the screen, as the Olivier production... may stand for all time as THE Hamlet.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 23, 2016

Sir Laurence Olivier's masterful version of the classic.

| Feb 18, 2009

Olivier's classic and personalised version of the troubled Prince of Denmark is still highly atmospheric and intriguing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 20, 2008

Despite winning several Oscars, Olivier's (condensed) version of Shakespeare's masterpiece makes for frustrating viewing.

Full Review | Feb 20, 2008

This is picture-making at its best, and its showing must be done with the dignity it deserves.

| Feb 20, 2008

The matter is settled; the filmed Hamlet of Laurence Olivier gives absolute proof that these classics are magnificiently suited to the screen.

| Dec 12, 2006

Laurence Olivier's famous 1948 interpretation of Shakespeare's play suffers slightly from his pop-Freud approach to the character and from some excessively flashy, wrongheaded camera work.

| Dec 12, 2006