a lot of people do not think branagh hamlet film be all that good and but i must admit i think it be splendid . like virtually every production of shakespeare and it have problem and it have have to make hard choice and not all of which work out . the thing about the secret door everywhere and for instance and simply doesn not work . that element never achieve the ominous feeling of metaphor or analogy that it attempt to and which result in the play be too gaudy and lose it trademark sense of a thousand mystery loom . this be the big problem with this production . and while it a biggie and i be also inclined to say that it the only problem . almost everything else work out absolutely beautifully . all right and so branagh be a mite too old for the title role . and the relationship with ophelia seem a little forced . and he get too hysterical at time . but that it . no other complaint . even with these fault and i think this version be a seminal one and and if it not a powerful a drama a it ought to be and it every bit the literary work that it equally ought to be . we get the complete text of the long version of the play and innovatively and expensively bring to the screen and mostly enunciate in perfect and modern and highly understandable voice even if they sometimes speak too quickly in order to get the massive text over with . but in a staging of shakespeare and it simply be not possible to speak slowly enough for the audience to really appreciate the full depth of the language . for that and one must delve into the print version of the play . all the actor of this version be simply mesmerize and utterly and instantly classic ( incl . jack lemmon ) . julie christie a gertrude be surely one of the best ever and and even the american actor be astound and esp . charlton heston a the player king who would have think it . ( a story be go around that heston once play hamlet on stage and and when a critic in the front row couldn not stand his hammy acting and say out loud and this be terrible . and heston reportedly retort right from the stage represent well and i do not write this crap . of course it may not be true and but it a funny story and if true and a bold and ironic choice for branagh to include heston here . ) robin williams a young ozric be perhaps not young enough for the part and but he make it a comical one and which be warrant . overall it be a very well produce version and with most of the key scene be and to my mind and supremely memorable . of course and i watch this movie just a i be become interested in shakespeare ( and around the same time a luhrmann formidable romeo plus juliet ) and and it make a great impression on me and which must account for some of my fondness for it . all thing consider and i must pronounce branagh hamlet to be my favorite one and with derek jacobi 1980 bbc version a close second . i probably like branagh shakespeare work more than most and find him an expert interpreter and popularizer and with an attractively casual attitude to the word and a deep and appropriately and unashamedly enthusiastic appreciation of the text . in the world of shakespeare act and the two bright luminary remain olivier and branagh and and while olivier be the superior actor and branagh brings shakespeare down from the pedestal of snobbery and artifice and and transform it into churlish and easy go and populistic worldliness while compromise none of it dignity . branagh and i believe and bring out a truer shakespeare than the world have yet see . and so and positive for an absolutely tremendous hamlet .