Best Picture # 21 - Hamlet - 1948
Where Una falls asleep four times in attempting to finish this movie, and decides that is her limit.
O, that this too, too somnolent movie would wake up. To sleep, perchance to dream that a too-old-for-the-role petulant Olivier in a bad wig is the definitive Hamlet.
I can't necessarily define a movie by the fact that I couldn't stay awake through it. When The Sleep is upon me, there is very little that will keep it at bay. However, after starting over just before Ophelia's death no less than 4 times, I'd had enough.
Too bad, since it's the only Shakespearean play-turned-movie to win Best Picture. The opening also showed promise, with the camera using the ghost of Hamlet's father as its point of view. Then the ghost shows up using a verrrrrry scaaaaaaaaary breathy voice and speaking so slowly that the scene takes 10 years or more.
Then again, maybe you shouldn't ask a girl who learned most of what she knows about Hamlet from The Reduced Shakespeare Company, who do Hamlet in under 30 minutes, including 3 encores, one of which runs the play backwards:
- Everyone dies
- 'Boo' backwards is 'Oob'
- That I like 'What a piece of work is man' way better than 'To be or not to be.'
- Ophelia's inner monologue is 'Cut the crap, Hamlet! My biological clock is ticking, and I want babies now!'
Next up: political corruption in All the King's Men!
PS - if you're wondering what happened to BP #20 - Gentleman's Agreement, I wasn't happy with the entry and kept it on private setting. I'm still not crazy about it, but the project was being held at a standstill without it. The entry is visible now, just follow the tag.