I recommend that others view this Russian Hamlet with very modest expectations. I did not find this version to live up to the rave reviews posted here. When I put in the disc I was thinking of other great Russian films such as Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky) or Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein).This film is not a masterwork. The makeup and the sound are amateurish. The sets are grand in scope but the interiors are lacking in quality. The production most readily invites comparison to the Olivier version and obviously comes up short. But this is by no means an awful version. As with any production, it is interesting to note the choices made and the differences in how the characters are portrayed. Lovers of Shakespeare and Hamlet should not pass this version up.

3.0 / 5.0