TheLittleSongbird This should have been pretty good, seeing that it's based on a timeless play and that it had Maximillian Schell as Hamlet and Ricardo Montalban dubbing Claudius. That it did feature on MST3K and that it was placed #1 on the "Mystery Science Theater 3000: 10 Worst Movies They Riffed" list did make things rather dubious though. Then again the list did have Sampo(aka The Day the Earth Froze), I personally found that a good Soviet-Finnish film that suffered from bad unnecessary American dubbing, so I thought maybe Hamlet isn't as bad as all that. However, other than for the fact that Monster A-Go Go, Manos, Pod People or Space Mutiny should have taken the #1 spot instead on the list this version of Hamlet is as bad as all that. It is structurally pretty faithful to Shakespeare's play and has Ricardo Montalban's menacing and droll voice dubbing that saves it from being unwatchable, but of the Hamlets I've seen this is the worst by a considerable distance(I was mixed on the Mel Gibson version but thought Laurence Olivier's and Kenneth Branagh's were outstanding). It is a poor-looking film, the starkness could have been effective with the mood and Hamlet's state of mind but actually the lighting and sets looked too amateurish and dreary to give off any real atmosphere. The costumes are a mixture of dull and exaggerated, I saw a plumped-up Oliver Reed comparison in relation to how Claudius was attired and looked and that isn't far off really. The music at best is annoying and whatever movie it is meant to be part of, it sure ain't Hamlet. The story just plods along with no sense of life or tension, the ending usually shocks and moves me but I was left completely cold here while everything is just too slow-moving and perhaps too calculated. I can see why the movie was dubbed, but the actual dialogue came across as stilted and voices didn't fit with the characters, the only real notable exception was Montalban. The acting is not much better either, even Maximillian Schell- so good in Judgment at Nuremberg- gives a very uninspired performance, it is very one-note and mannequin-like with just one real facial expression. Dunja Movar is a total blank as Orphelia, and Hans Caninenberg's Claudius verges on pantomimic. In relation to the MST3K episode, it was fun enough- much more so than the movie- but perhaps because trying to riff Shakespeare is in a very different style to what is usually seen from them it really wasn't one of their best episodes in my opinion. Overall, plodding and dreary, not among the worst movies featured on MST3K but it is really the worst Hamlet you'll ever see and one of the worst Shakespeare adaptations I've come across. 3/10 Bethany Cox

divaclv Here we have undeniable proof that even the best material cannot save a shoddy, poorly-mounted production. Yeah, I know Hamlet is supposed to be a pretty bleak story about death, vengance, madness, and all those other wonderful things that spice up life. But this dreary, depressing piece of German Existentialism pretty much sucks any trace of life from Shakespeare's unparalleled poetry.Depression seems to be common stock in Denmark. First there's Hamlet himself, played in such a broody, pouty manner by Maximillian Schnell that one ends up wishing he'd opted for "not to be" instead of "to be." He's found the perfect mate in Ophelia, who balances dead-faced melancholy with histronic whimpering. Polonious, meanwhile, isn't depressed but his stood-under-a-tree-in-an-electrical-storm hair and bad German accent (that is, the bad German accent of the actor who dubbed the English track) is very depressing. Even the comic gravedigger seems in need of Prozac.Then there's the production values, what little there is. Gertrude and Claudius, despite being the most powerful and therefore wealthiest people in Denmark, only have one change of clothes. Hamlet's late father dresses like a Sigfried and Roy wannabe, but it doesn't matter as nearly all of his big scene is spent focused directly on Hamlet's face, putting one uneasily in mind of Alanis Morrisette's "Head Over Feet" video. The wood-and-Styrofoam set would embarrass a high-school drama club, and the poor lighting and dark clothes make for a lot of disembodied heads and hands floating across the screen.Credit the MST3K boys for tackling this misguided piece and bringing some life back to one of the Bard's greatest works.

Mike Sh. "Hamlet" by William ("We all make his praise") Shakspeare is arguably the greatest play ever written - in fact, it's possibly the greatest work of literature ever written in the English language. Given these facts, imagine my surprise when Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the recently defunct TV show in which bad movies are goofed on by a janitor and his two robots) decided to give this their special treatment.Specifically, they did this 1960 production for German Television, featuring the highly respected Maximilian Schell in the title role. Now laugh I as I did along with the jokes made at the movie's expense, I really can't see too much wrong with the movie. Herr Schell is more than credible as the Melancholy Dane, and the dark dreary scenery only serve to underscore the mood of the play and its characters. As for dialogue, well how could you possibly go wrong?As for complaints that much of the play was missing, it must be remembered that our friends at Best Brains had to edit the movie (which as I understand, ran for about 3 hours) to fit their little TV show, which ran for 2 hours, including commercials.I, for one, am inclined to cut this movie a good bit of slack.

JeffG. Poor Will would be rolling over in his grave if he could this this horiible German-TV adaptaion of his classic play. It's obvious that very little money was spent on it. A stage riser, a catwalk and some randomly placed columns pass off as a set. The movie was ineptly dubbed into English, with the English voice actors occasionally mumbling their lines. The whole production had an incredibly dark and dreary feel to it. And just where was Fonterbras in this movie anyway? MST3K gave this sorry production the treatment it justly deserved.To be or not to be? I wish this movie never was in the first place.