Word: hamlets
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Chest hair. It all seems to boil down to chest hair. Kenneth Branagh set out on an audacious path when he decided to make his own film version of Hamlet, and the result is a film that is overall well-crafted and compelling. But this masterpiece, which Branagh directed, starred in and "wrote" himself, is often shot through with several glaring inconsistencies that take away from the power of the melodrama he has obviously worked hard to create...
Branagh sets the play in a pre-World-War-I era, apparently for no reason other than novelty. As all Hamlet-o-philes know, the story begins with the sighting of King Hamlet's ghost by Horatio (Nicholas Ferrell), Marcellus (Jack Lemmon '47) and Barnardo (Ian McElhinney). Here Bismarck-style hats poised atop the head of an improbably cast Marcellus steal a scene intended to prepare the audience for the play's mood of ranting and revenge. But to the audience's consternation, the period so over-emphasized early on plays a minor or non-existent role later...
When Branagh does use the period costumes to some effect, his motivation is questionable and questionably hairy. Hamlet, played by Branagh himself, wears black throughout, coupled with a lengthy trench-coat and cape for dramatic effect -- a trick already employed in his not-so-classic redux of Frankenstein. Nevertheless, Hamlet often also dons a white poet shirt, baggy enough to shift the audience's focus in several lengthy scenes to Branagh's chest hair...
Even in the final fencing scene between Laertes and Hamlet, a fencing vest is worn featuring fake pecs and six-packs that would make Batman jealous. Later, Branagh's vest is removed to uncover a skin-tight tank top, revealing, of course, Branagh's chest hair. Not only does Branagh seem to wish desperately that he be immediately lauded as sex symbol of the decade, but he also employs some heavy-handed Christ imagery when he is carried out after Fortinbras' coronation. Branagh seems to be going for much more than an Oscar here...
MEDIA, Pennsylvania: Opening arguments in the murder trial of multimillionaire John E. du Pont began in this Pennsylvania hamlet this morning, dredging up the bizarre circumstances that led to the shooting death of Olympic wrestler David Schultz last January 26. Schultz, a gold medalist in 1984, had been living and training on du Pont's estate with his family when du Pont inexplicably shot him dead as Schultz' wife looked on. Du Pont barricaded himself in the family mansion, holding out against an army of police officers for two days. Du Pont's past bizarre behavior is the basis...