I can't wait for Branagh's version.

Please members of the forum give consideration to this title when it comes out.

From http://www.ruscico.com/about_eng.php


Hamlet (1964)

Description:

A screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy. The somber Elsinore Castle that keeps secrets of many a crime is looming over the rocky coastline. Prince Hamlet once again puts the question: “To be, or not to be?” He is the first thinker in the line of warriors, a poet and a philosopher, a character so close to future generations. In the utterly corrupted kingdom, a lone hero is bound to take up arms to avenge his father’s death. This film became a champion among Lenfilm Studio’s prize-winning motion pictures – 23 awards in four years. The musical score was written by the great Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich.

Awards:
Special Prize at the Venice IFF, 1964; Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian IFF, 1965; Prize at the San Francisco IFF, 1966; Prize of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), 1966

Studio:
Lenfilm

Year of Release:
1964

Director:
Grigory Kozintsev

Script:
Grigory Kozintsev

Camera:
Jonas Gritsus

Music by:
Dmitry Shostakovich

Cast:
Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Mikhail Nazvanov, Elsa Radzinya, Yuri Tolubeyev, Anastasia Vertinskaya, Vadim Medvedev, Vladimir Erenberg, Stepan Oleksenko, Igor Dmitriev, Grigory Gai, Reino Aren

Running time:
70+70 min.

Color:
b/w

Format:
16:9

Collection:
Original Story by

Release:
coming soon

Date of DVD Release:
I quarter 2005

Languages:
Russian (mono)
DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1:Russian,English (voice-over),French (voice-over)

Subtitles:
Russian,English,German,French,Spanish,Italian

Special Freatures:
Interviews with director G. Kozintsev and actor I. Smoktunovsky; Documentaries: «Making of…», «I. Smoktunovsky awarded by the Lenin Award»; Text material «W. Shakespeare»; Sketches of production design; Photo Albums; Filmographies



http://www.ruscico.com/pic2/1106738972(big).gif



Regards.

Any further news on the development of a 10th anniversary edition for next year? I'd love to have this on DVD. Don't even care about extras, just give me stunning transfer and audio track and I'm good.

I second that. Not so concerned about the extras as I am a good transfer and audio treatment.

Mind if I third that? The grapevine is so quiet on this fine, fine movie I am so suprised is not on DVD yet.

Any new news on this front? Perhaps which half of 2006, if that is even still on the table?

das

The webmaster of Kenbranagh.com wrote this in October regarding the DVD release:

UPDATE: Today I spoke with Tamar, Mr. Branagh's assistant, and she has confirmed that Warner is planning to release the film next year. She explained that their contact at Warner is currently engrossed in the upcoming Harry Potter release, but after that project is completed, they will begin work on the Hamlet DVD project. She explained that this works out just fine because Ken is very busy with other projects right now anyway. I think this is tremendous news!

I am not going to throw a "We are finally getting Hamlet on DVD party" just yet, but any news is encouraging. Thanks for posting that.

I almost jumped out of my chair at work this morning. I will remain cautiously optimistic 'til we hear more news.

From thedigitalbits.com Rumor Mill:

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#021606

Brilliant! It never seemed like Ruscico would ever get around to releasing Kozintsev. I also noticed his King Lear up on the site as a 2-disc version. I can't recommend these adaptations enough.

seeing this disc is getting done by Warner's my hopes they master this from a 65mm print source - a true visual representation would be to see (or even own ) this in HiDef.

Finally, if I am not spending a few more thousand on car repairs from here on out, will buy this when it's released.

Has anyone heard any more recent news on a release of this? I think it's a great flick and would love to see it on DVD.

According to the last update in May 2006 on www.kenbranagh.com, Warner Bros. was in the midst of remastering the film from a 65mm negative. The release date was supposed to be announced when the master was ready, but no news since then.

bingo! this should love amazing in HiDef.

i picked up the video in oxfam for 1.99 and sold it for 12.99 on ebay. not my sort of thing. i watched 15 minutes and found jack lemmon so very bad in it.

you really owe it to yourself to watch the entire thing. some of the small cameos that pop up (95% in the beginning) are just whorrible. however, once you get into the actual meat of the play and the main characters it's great. branaugh is simply amazing in the part.

Billy Crystal and Robin Williams are simply awful in it, and Jack Lemmon is woefully out of place, but I found Charlton Heston of all people to be surprisingly effective. I liked the film a lot, though it is awfully long.

When I saw this in the theater, something went wrong in the booth and we lost total audio for the final 15 minutes of the movie. 4 hours of sitting there in the dark and that happened at the very end! You can imagine how upset people were. My wife and I had to run across the street to a bookstore afterwards to grab a copy of the play and refresh our memories on what happened in the last scene.

I myself am hopeful that if this DVD is successful, Branagh, American Zoetrope, and Sony will start on an SE for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

I don't remember being as embarrassed for Jack Lemmon as other people have said they were. (Actually, I just had a conversation about this film last weekend.) Maybe I need to re-view it to refresh my memory.

However, I definitely agree with you about Heston's "surprisingly effective" performance. (Those are absolutely the right words for it.) Anyone who thinks that Heston wasn't a decent actor really needs to see his Hecuba soliloquy here.

Me, too! If it hasn't rotted away... :grumble:

From Digitalbits:

In the news today, I've spoken with Warner Home Video and learned that they've completed the telecine process for a long-awaited release of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Work is now underway on special edition content, with the goal of releasing a worthy DVD release sometime in 2007. Good news indeed.

Heston wasn't new to Shakespeare; he had starred in two Shakespearean films in the early 70s, Julius Caesar (1970, as Marc Antony) and Antony and Cleopatra (1972, as Antony, and he also directed this film), and previously acted in stage productions as well.

Regarding the others, Lemmon wasn't great, but he was vastly better than Crystal and Williams, who are painful to watch.

Hmmm, I thought Crystal was pretty good (surprisingly) and Lemmon and Williams stunk. :shrug:

and if anyone is in Melbourne, Australia on the 22nd of November they are screening a 70mm print:

The Astor Theatre

Okay, this is weird. I received an e-mail from Amazon today telling me I can download Branagh's Hamlet to watch on my computer, and pointing out to me that it's not yet available on DVD as a selling point.

Thinking this was some kind of hoax, I went to Amazon, did a search on "Hamlet"...

...and this popped up.

I would doubt this is the high quality transfer we are waiting for, so I just find it bizarre.

Yes, I noticed this last week. Even if it's a good transfer I wouldn't buy it with the rules they have in place.

However, it does tempt me to sell my VHS edition. :)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...e=UTF8&s=video

Wow, if they are really going for that I am tempted to sell mine as well.

Yeah, I saw that about six weeks ago. I read somewhere on there that it's fullscreen, so scratch that.

No HD-DVD= NO Sale

Where's that come from and why would you not want a regular dvd?...

I'd definitely let a dvd tide me over for 10 years while they work on a better copy (not that it would ever see the light of day)...

I must say, if they are just now going to release the damn thing, I would much prefer to buy it on HD-DVD. I am not saying I would not by a regular DVD, but I understand the logic. I have nearly stopped buying anything on DVD except movies I need urgently or that are extremly cheap. The HD formats are that much better. I would love to see this in HD, the theater presentation was awesome - the VHS is, well, VHS.

In mid-2006 there was a post on digital bits regarding there DEFINATELY being a standard DVD release in 2007, and went as far as to confirm "they are working on it now", "They" being Warner Home Video. I believe I also saw a confirmation at the same time on dvdactive as well. Nothing since then.

For those of you still hanging onto your VHS, and can't wait for a studio produced DVD: every now and again STARZ plays the ENTIRE film, uncut, uninterrupted, in Dolby Surround, and (most importantly) Letterboxed. I transfered it onto DVD some time ago, and the picture is Digital Cable quality - which is CERTAINLY better than VHS.

Now just patiently waiting to FINALLY see this in 16x9, DTS, etc...etc...

Warner has contacted Branagh about doing a commentary, so a dvd release is slowly making progress.

from HiDef Digest:

'L.A. Confidential,' 'Poltergeist' to Topline Warner Blu-ray, HD DVD 2007 Catalog Slate


Among the highly-requested classics in the studio's vault that will see next-gen release in 2007 are a quartet of faves -- 'L.A. Confidential,' 'Deliverance,' 'Poltergeist' and, in its first-ever release on disc, Kenneth Branagh's 1996 interpretation of 'Hamlet.' Each is slated to receive the two-disc special edition treatment on standard-def DVD, with a comparable, simultaneous release on both Blu-ray and HD DVD:

Digitalbits states this:

Branagh's Hamlet is done and will finally be released this summer on all formats.

awesome!

Could it really be happening? I surely hope so. We have been waiting oh so long to see this in DVD quality.

Those blurbs that Giles posted got the info from the HTF chat that Warner participated in on Monday. They seemed pretty sure about it, so it looks like it's really coming this time.

thanks Drexl :)

as for the transfer itself, given Warner's track record of 65mm to video transfers my fingers are crossed that this will look spectacular.