E X T E N S I O ADAPTING HAMLET TO FILM For centuries Hamlet has been a rite of passage for actors and film directors: there are about forty film adaptations, and other movies built on minor characters. Two silent versions of the early 19th century are still notable a French one starring Sarah Bernhardt as a female Hamlet (1910), and a Danish one with Asta Nielsen. This version, directed by August Blom in 1910 and shot in Kronborg castle, near Elsing r, drew directly from Saxo Grammaticus and took very little from Shakespeare. Later came the spoken films: the Indian film Khoon Ka Khoon (1934), and Hamlet (1948), the first truly important classic version starring, and directed by Sir Laurence Olivier. He was already a very famous Shakespearian actor and put together elements typical of the theatre and the new techniques, borrowed from the cinema, of action, rhythm and open spaces. The result was a sadly reflective and intense film with an Olivier-Hamlet made peroxideblonde1 for the occasion, and a Jean SimmonsOphelia on her début. William Walton (190283), the English composer, wrote the music. The film was long considered a model of interpretation and acting, and used as a standard of comparison for both screen and stage editions. In 1964, Sir John Gielgud, another star of the British scene, co-directed a version starring a sexily heroic Richard Burton as Hamlet. Still in 1964, Grigorij Kozintsev directed Gamlet, an acclaimed adaptation of Boris Pasternak s Russian version of the play (1941), with music written by Dmitrij Sostakovic . 1 peroxide-blonde: dyed. 99 N