EMC: Abstract: Richard Burton's Hamlet*

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Richard Burton's Hamlet*

• 1964 ----- b & w ----- 191 min ----- dvd
• (Directed by John Gielgud; with Richard Burton, Alfred Drake, Hume Cromyn, Eileen Herlie, Linda Marsh) No production of the 1963/64 Broadway theatre season caused the interest, onstage or off, of the Richard Burton Hamlet: staged in rehearsal-room and modern-dress conditions, directed by John Gielgud who had himself set up Broadway long-run records as Hamlet thirty years earlier, this was the production every New York theatregoer had to see. Not to mention filmgoers: with Cleopatra already on release. Burton had married Liz Taylor during the Canadian try-out tour of this Hamlet, and fans were at fever pitch. Now available for the first time this is a record of a live performance with audience meant for one cinematic showing. Prints were then contractually ordered to be destroyed, but Burton sent one copy to the British Film Institute and kept one print at home, located by his widow Sally in 1988. (Restricted to use on University of Washington campuses only)
• Topics: (Drama, Literature: English)

		Educational Media Collection risimiki@u.washington.edu Modified: January 11, 2007