10 Best William Shakespeare Film Adaptations

1. Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh, 1996)

It makes sense that Hamlet would be at the top of this list, since it's considered Shakespeare's finest play. And there are many very fine versions from which we could choose €“ Laurence Olivier's Oscar -winning version from 1948; the 1964 Russian version with a score by Dmitri Shostakovich; Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 version with Mel Gibson in the lead; or David Tennant's 2009 rendition for the BBC. But in the end, the most fully realised version is Kenneth Branagh's, which still stands as the jewel in his crown as both an actor and director.

Hamlet is the tragic story of the young Prince of Denmark. At the beginning of the play, he is visited by the ghost of his father, who tells him that he was murdered by Hamlet's uncle Claudius, who is in turn now married to his mother Gertrude. Hamlet swears revenge, beginning to behave erratically as he wrestles over whether he really did see his father or whether he is simply going mad. After much deliberation, and the casting-off of his love Ophelia, the play climaxes in a bloody confrontation in which most of the cast are killed.

If Henry V is Branagh at his most accessible, this is Branagh as his most fully realised. Being completely unabridged and running at over four hours long, it's certainly not for the faint-hearted, but it is an immensely rewarding experience. The 19th century setting, using Blenheim Palace as Elsinore Castle, brings a stately, ethereal feeling in which the moments of insanity and impulse become all the more intriguing. The film has the beauty of Lawrence of Arabia and Branagh's direction brings out the weight of the play with great dexterity. Both as a Shakespeare adaptation and a film in its own right, it is nothing short of a masterpiece.

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