Crowl began by saying that Shakespeare has become one of America's adopted literary sons, and has made himself at home in Hollywood as well. Crowl said that the first era of Shakespeare movies can be considered to begin with Laurence Olivier's Henry V in 1944 and end with Roman Polanski's Macbeth in 1971. This era included such great films as Olivier's 1948 Hamlet, which was the first foreign film to win an Oscar for best picture, and Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet, the largest grossing Shakespeare film until Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet in 1996.
A new era of Shakespeare film began around 1990, with Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet starring Mel Gibson. Crowl discussed Zeffirelli's interpretation of the play, which places the power dynamic between the prince and his mother Queen Gertrude at the center of the plot. As Gertrude, Glenn Close exudes a sensual vitality, Crowl said, making the Gibson/Close film the most intense portrayal of the Hamlet/Gertrude relationship. Zeffirelli also follows a more romantic, operatic style in his adaptation, Crowl said.
In 1996, Kenneth Branaugh directed and starred in his version of Hamlet, a four hour epic that used the complete text of the play. Crowl discussed the use of mirrors as a recurring visual metaphor in the film, saying that Branaugh has a talent for making the camera serve the screenplay in a unique merger of text and technique. While Zeffirelli's film is mother-centric, Crowl said, Branaugh's film is decidedly father-centric, with the elder Hamlet as a more threatening presence, as well as the constant contrast between Hamlet and Fortinbras as two examples of the vengeful sons of wronged fathers. Crowl said that Branaugh's film also does a good job of merging the psychological and political aspects of Shakespeare's play.
Michael Almereyda directed his modern interpretation of Hamlet starring Ethan Hawke in 2000. The film places the prince's story in a violent modern Manhattan, with Claudius as a corporate executive and Hamlet as a disgruntled young filmmaker. Crowl praised Almereyda's ability to cleverly transform the text using modern visual idioms, as well as Hawke's portrayal of Hamlet and Bill Murray's nuanced Polonius.
The final Hamlet made in the 1990s era was 2000's made-for-TV version directed by and starring Campbell Scott. Crowl placed this film somewhere between Branaugh and Almereyda's versions in terms of style and interpretation. Like Branaugh's version, Scott's film is not based on the Oedipal conflict between Hamlet and his mother, but on the demands and pressure placed on the prince by his father. Crowl also mentioned Scott's use of the sword as a crucial symbolic prop throughout the film, as well as Scott's portrayal of Hamlet as confused rather than passive.
When asked by a student which film was his personal favorite, Crowl said that it was a difficult decision. While many students enjoy the modern Almereyda version, he said, he finds the Branaugh epic to be the most intriguing, and believes that Branaugh in fact had the harder task in creating the four hour film.
Crowl's lecture was sponsored by the departments of English, Comparative Literature, and the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.
-- by Caroline O'Shea '07
