Word: ghosts
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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This bill is made worse, he said, because in actually there is only the "appearance of a majority" in favor of passing it. "The only reason the bill has a ghost of a chance," he said, is that Northerners will vote for it thinking it applies to the "regional problem" of the South...
...acting, Richard Burton's performance is a technician's marvel. His voice has gem-cutting precision and he can outroar Times Square traffic, though he lacks the liquid melody that Gielgud supplies as the voice of Hamlet's father's unseen ghost. His hands punctuate the speeches with percussive rhythm and instinctive grace. He is virile, yet mannerly, as sweet of temper as he is quick to anger, and his wary eyes dart from foe to friend with the swiftness of thought...
...weightiness, makes every speech momentous. It is with energy, not respect, that he controls the conspirators. His antics make Cassius seem calm by comparison. And in a second act where everyone--Bramhall, David Rittenhouse (Antony), Edwin Holstein (Octavius), and Thomas Weisbuch (Cassius)--is playing at fever pitch, where a ghost puts in an appearance, and where the prodigious battle scene takes up fully ten minutes, the play degenerates into a second-rate melodrama. The giggles heard during what should have been the most exciting moments of the second act ought to warn the cast to slow down and let this...
...sheer lavishness means so much, the very obvious technical slipups made quite a ludicrous impression. An occasional Brooklyn accent is especially jolting in a production notable for its uniformity of speech. The assassination of Caesar, when done with imaginary weapons, loses a great deal of its effect, and a ghost scene in which the ghost of Caesar merely walks onstage, pronounces his lines, and walks away, falls completely flat. The production crew created armor that rattles very loudly, which is especially annoying during what should be impressive scenes--while the soldiers are bearing Caesar's body off the stage...
Richard Burton's Hamlet is an unusual one. There is little of the melancholic in him; in fact, the keynote of his portrayal is almost unbounded energy. He is at his best when Hamlet is near distraction, especially in the almost impossible scene after the ghost has left him alone on the stage. As Marcellus and Horatio enter they come upon a Hamlet whose "wild and whirling words" are no more disordered than his mind. He rushes violently about the stage, his comrades trailing after him. When the voice from the cellerage cries "Swear," Burton breaks into an exultant cackle...