Hamlet On Screen - List of Screen Adaptations

List of Screen Adaptations

This list includes adaptations of the Hamlet story, and films in which the characters are involved in acting or studying Hamlet.

• Oh'Phelia (UK, 1919) animated burlesque of the Hamlet story.

Anson Dyer director

• To Be or Not To Be (USA, 1942) is the story of an acting company in 1939 Poland.

Ernst Lubitsch director

Jack Benny as Joseph Tura

Carole Lombard as Maria Tura

• The Bad Sleep Well (aka Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) (Japan, 1960) is an adaptation of the Hamlet story set in corporate Japan.

Akira Kurosawa director

Toshiro Mifune as Koichi Nishi

• Acting Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja (Yugoslavia, 1974) Entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival.

Krsto Papić director

Rade Šerbedžija as Joco / Hamlet

• Angel of Revenge/Female Hamlet (Turkey, 1976)

Metin Erksan, director

Fatma Girik as a female Hamlet

• Hamlet Goes Business (Hamlet liikemaailmassa) (Finland, 1981).

Aki Kaurismäki director

Pirkka-Pekka Petelius as Hamlet

• To Be or Not To Be (USA, 1983) is a remake of the Ernst Lubitsch film.

Mel Brooks director and as Frederick Bronski

Anne Bancroft as Anna Bronski

• Strange Brew (Canada, 1983), a comedy. Something is rotten in the Elsinore Brewery.

Dave Thomas co-director and as Doug McKenzie

Rick Moranis co-director and as Bob McKenzie

• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (USA, 1990) film based on Tom Stoppard’s stage play.

Tom Stoppard director

Gary Oldman as Rozencrantz (or Guildenstern)

Tim Roth as Guildenstern (or Rozencrantz)

Richard Dreyfuss as the Player King

• Renaissance Man (USA, 1994) is the story of an unemployed advertising executive teaching Hamlet to a group of underachieving trainee soldiers.

Penny Marshall director

Danny DeVito as Bill

• The Lion King (USA, 1994) Disney’s animated adaptation of the Hamlet story.

Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff directors

Matthew Broderick as the voice of Simba (the Hamlet character)

James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa (the Old Hamlet character)

Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar (the Claudius character)

• In The Bleak Midwinter (aka “A Midwinter’s Tale”) (UK, 1996) tells the story of a group of actors performing Hamlet.

Kenneth Branagh director

Michael Maloney as Joe (Hamlet)

Julia Sawalha as Nina (Ophelia)

• Let the Devil Wear Black (USA, 1999)

Stacy Title director

Jonathan Penner as Jack Lyne (Hamlet)

Jamey Sheridan as Carl Lyne (Claudius)

Mary-Louise Parker as Julia Hirsch (Ophelia)

• The Banquet (China, 2006)

Feng Xiaogang, director

Zhang Ziyi as Empress Wan (Gertrude)

Daniel Wu as Prince Wu Luan (Hamlet)

Zhou Xun as Qing Nu (Ophelia)

Ge You as Emperor Li (Claudius)