Hamlet at Elsinore

Hamlet at Elsinore is a 1964 television version of the c. 1600 play by William Shakespeare. Produced by the BBC in association with Danish Radio, it was shown in the U.S. on NET. Winning wide acclaim both for its performances and for being shot entirely at Helsingør (Elsinore in English), in the castle in which the play is set. It is the only version (with sound) of the play to have actually been shot at Elsinore Castle. This programme was recorded and edited on video tape (2" quadruplex) and not 'filmed'. The director was Philip Saville. It was the longest version of the play telecast in one evening up to that time, running nearly three hours. A 1947 telecast of the play had split it up into two ninety-minute halves over two weeks.

The Canadian actor Christopher Plummer took the lead role as Hamlet and earned an Emmy Award nomination for his performance. Also appearing were Robert Shaw as Claudius, Alec Clunes as Polonius, June Tobin as Gertrude, Jo Maxwell-Muller as Ophelia and Michael Caine, in his only Shakespearean performance, as Horatio. In supporting roles were Roy Kinnear as the Gravedigger, Steven Berkoff as Lucianus and Donald Sutherland as Fortinbras. The music was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett.

Clips of the programme are very rarely shown on television, and Plummer himself expressed a wish for it to be commercially available. It was released on Region 1 DVD by the BBC and Warner on 25 October 2011. The full play was shown in the UK on BBC Four on 5 November 2023 along with a 15 minute programme with Berkoff relating his experiences working on the production.

Cast

 * Christopher Plummer as Hamlet
 * Robert Shaw as Claudius, King of Denmark
 * Alec Clunes as Polonius
 * Michael Caine as Horatio
 * June Tobin as Gertrude, Queen of Denmark
 * Jo Maxwell-Muller as Ophelia
 * Roy Kinnear as the Gravedigger
 * Philip Locke as Osric
 * Dyson Lovell as Laertes
 * Peter Prowse as Marcellus
 * David Calderisi as Rosencrantz
 * Bill Wallis as Guildenstern
 * Charles Carson as Priest
 * David Swift as Player King
 * Lindsay Kemp as Player Queen
 * Steven Berkoff as Lucianus
 * Donald Sutherland as Fortinbras
 * Joby Blanshard as Captain
 * Michael Goldie as Bernado
 * William Hobbs as Prologue/fight arranger

Steven Berkoff writes about his time as a junior cast member in his autobiography Free Association. Horatio is the only classical role played by Michael Caine, who had never received dramatic training. According to his 2011 autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood, Caine had been released from his contract with producer Joseph E. Levine after the making of Zulu as Levine had told him, "I know you're not, but you gotta face the fact that you look like a queer on screen."

Caine wrote, "I decided that if my on-screen appearance was going to be an issue, then I would use it to bring out all Horatio's ambiguous sexuality."

Production
The production was originated by Danish television, which lacked the financial resources to realize the project and turned to the BBC for help. Videotaped at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark, in September 1963 by a Danish crew with the director and actors supplied by the BBC, it represents a technical milestone for the BBC as a full-length play had never been videotaped on-location before.

The producer, Peter Luke, deliberately cast lesser-known actors as it was felt using major stars would prove a distraction. Although he had an established career in the theatre, Christopher Plummer's movie stardom wouldn't be cemented until The Sound of Music (1965); Robert Shaw was at the start of his international film career, having recently finished filming From Russia with Love (1963) at the time of production; Michael Caine had his first important film role in Zulu (1964), released several months after filming; and Donald Sutherland wouldn't become a star until 1970 after the release of the film MASH. Jo Maxwell-Muller, who was only 20 years old, was cast as Ophelia on the insistence of Plummer. Hamlet at Elsinore was broadcast in Canada on April 15, 1964, and in the United Kingdom on April 19, exactly one week before Shakespeare's 400th birthday. It was intended by the BBC to be its major commemoration of the Shakespeare quatercentenary. It was broadcast in the United States on November 15, 1964.

Awards
At the 18th Emmy Awards (1966), Christopher Plummer was nominated in the category of Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama for his performance as Hamlet.