Hamlet and the 1948 Movie Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hamlet

Not only did the exceptionally talented Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) play the leading role of Hamlet in this engrossing film, he was also its director as well. This earned him an Oscar for Best Actor, with the film also taking out an Oscar for Best Picture. "Hamlet" was the first film out of Britain to win a Best Picture Oscar, and the first sound production of the play as well - so it was a quadruple coup for the remarkable Olivier. "Hamlet" also won Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

Answer: Ophelia

Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, and the rejected lover of Hamlet, is the tragic heroine in this tragedy. Events conspire to send her into the darkness of insanity, when she ultimately commits suicide by drowning. She was played in the famous 1948 film "Hamlet" by Jean Simmons, who was nominated for the award of Best Supporting Actress for her role. Jean Simmons was a British actress who lived from 1929 until 2010.

She made more than 70 films in her long career.

Answer: Queen of Denmark

Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet" is the the unsuspecting widow of King Hamlet (Hamlet's father) - who has unwittingly married his killer. She cares deeply for her son, Hamlet, but is more than troubled by his increasingly erratic behaviour. In the 1948 film "Hamlet", she is played by Eileen Herlie, a Scottish-American actress who lived from 1918 until 2008.

The role of Queen Gertrude, Hamlet's mother, was her big break into the movies. Interestingly though, Eileen, in real life, was actually 11 years younger than Laurence Olivier.

Answer: The father of Hamlet

When we first meet Hamlet, he is in the depths of depression following the death of his father, and his mother's very hasty follow up marriage within a matter of weeks. The visitation of the ghost to Hamlet soon follows and that spiritual apparition informs the troubled prince that he was murdered.

This sees the indecisive Hamlet eventually overtaken by the thirst for revenge at the cost of all else. The ghost in this film, or rather its voice, was provided by the multi-talented Olivier himself. He gave it the eerie effect it produced by recording the voice at a normal speed, and then having it played back at a slower speed in the movie.

Answer: Uncle

Claudius was played by Basil Sydney (1894-1968) in Olivier's 1948 award winning production. He was a British actor with more than 50 films to his credit, of which his portrayal of Claudius was considered the best. Uncle Claudius, who becomes Hamlet's step-father as well, is the villain of the piece, who, according to the ghost of Hamlet's father, murdered him in order to gain the throne of Denmark.

He then achieved a double coup by marrying the widow of the deceased as well. Both these events give seed to Hamlet's overwhelming desire for revenge. All of Shakespeare's great tragedies have the main character, usually an heroic figure, eventually overtaken by a serious character flaw. Macbeth's for example, was his powerful ambition. Hamlet's is the lust for revenge.

Answer: A spear carrier

All great actors have to start out somewhere. Christopher Lee was so unknown at this stage of his long, long career, that he had no dialogue. In fact, he wasn't even credited in the film at all. Yet there he is, fangs still undeveloped, in the role of spear holder in Laurence Olivier award-winning film. "Hamlet" was the third of Lee's astonishing record of 207 movies, but he fared rather better in his first movie.

He was given one line of dialogue in that.

Answer: A level headed friend

Horatio's role in "Hamlet" is that of Hamlet's calm and centred friend, and in that regard, he proves a perfect foil for Hamlet's frenetic, but assumed, descent into insanity. Played by German actor Norman Wooland (1910-1989), Horatio, as Hamlet's dependable confidante, enables Hamlet to speak indirectly to any audience to let them know of his real motivations and schemes. Wooland was noted for his fine Shakespearian acting, and, such was his love of the Bard's work, that he named each member of a herd of cows he owned after a character from Shakespeare's many plays.

A true bovine tribute.

Answer: Ophelia

The gravedigger in "Hamlet" is busy at work preparing a new grave when Hamlet and Horatio pass by. They pause to discuss the nature of life and death, as a funeral procession begins to approach from afar. When it is revealed that it is Ophelia who is about to be buried, Hamlet throws off the cloak of his assumed madness and heart-brokenly declares how much he loved her after all. Not that this does him any good, for Ophelia's brother, Laertes, attempts to kill him on the spot, blaming him for the loss of his sister and his father.

You may remember Stanley Holloway (1890-1982) for his role as Alfred Doolittle in the 1964 film "My Fair Lady". This great old comedian from stage and film could turn his hand to just about anything, including dancing, writing poetry and singing as well. In "Hamlet" he plays that small role of the gravedigger. In Shakespeare's play there are two gravediggers, but Olivier cut the second one from the film, along with many other drastic cuts he was forced to make to keep the film to a reasonable length - and for which he was later criticised. Even after that aggressive pruning, the film still ran for 155 minutes.

Answer: Stabbed by Hamlet

Polonius is the Lord Chamberlain in "Hamlet" and the father of both Laertes and Ophelia. He disapproves of Ophelia's love for Hamlet and is altogether very suspicious of the young prince. While hiding behind a curtain and eavesdropping on a very heated argument between Queen Gertrude and Hamlet, he is mistakenly stabbed through the curtain and murdered by Hamlet who thinks he is King Claudius. That death and the death of Ophelia are the motive for Laertes to seek revenge on Hamlet, thus mirroring Hamlet's desire for revenge for the murder of his father. Polonius is played by Felix Aylmer (1889-1979) in the 1948 movie "Hamlet". Aylmer was a noted English stage actor who crossed over to appear in movies and television as well.

He appeared in more than 130 movies over his long life.

He worked with Olivier on "Henry V" (1944) and "As You Like It" (1936) as well.

Answer: Referee of the tragic duel

The famous Peter Cushing (1913-1994), noted for his many appearances of Sherlock Holmes, as well as a host of other engrossing characters, plays the role of the rather dandified courtier Osric in "Hamlet". Only a small role at that stage in his later long and very impressive career, but he played it to perfection.

It is Osric who "referees" the duel between Hamlet and Laertes (Ophelia's grief-stricken brother, and the son of Polonius) at the close of the film. This is the climax of the entire story when everything is brought to a close. Laertes, played ably by Terence Morgan (1921-2005), and urged on by Hamlet's murderous uncle, Claudius, has dipped his sword in poison, and, though himself killed by Hamlet, manages to cut Hamlet's arm with it before dying.

In fact, most of the main actors die in this dramatic scene, leaving only Horatio to mourn his troubled friend, Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark.