Television Debut
Hamlet was the second of Olivier's Shakespeare films to be telecast on American commercial network television – the first was Richard III, which was given an afternoon rather than a prime-time showing by NBC on March 11, 1956, the same day that it premiered in movie theatres in the U.S. The American Broadcasting Company gave the Olivier Hamlet a prime time showing in December 1956 but, like many theatrical films shown on television during that era, it was split into two 90-minute halves and telecast over a period of two weeks, rather than being shown complete on one evening. Only a month previously, MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz had had its first television showing – on CBS – and, unlike Hamlet, had been shown complete in one evening.
Read more about this topic: Hamlet (1948 film)
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