'The Woman In Black'

'Hamlet'

Rated PG-13

I

n a fabulous set flanked on Seibert, who seem to have be-
n sharp contrast to Laurence
each side by columns and come a rep company of two —
Olivier's streamlined 1948 ver-
adorned at the rear with they both were major players in
sion and the subdued bravado
monolithic draped coverings the fall shows Beau Jest and Jest
of Zeffirelli's more recent pro-
like a graveyard of objects, two a Second — are terrific in ma- duction with Mel Gibson in the
men come together to celebrate terial that could easily become
title role, Kenneth Branagh's
camp.
the spooky.
Hamlet is a gargantuan canvas
Grossman, playing several of color and fury in which the
They are Robert Grossman as
Kipps, the hapless central char- parts in enacting his own ghost characters often seem dwarfed
acter, and John Seibert, actor, story, is absolutely convincing. by the sheer magnitude of the
who will enact Kipps' narrative Seibert shows himself to be as proceedings.
adroit in melodrama as in com-
of murder and ghosts and
This is Shakespeare uncut,
edy as he struggles with unhurried and unrestrained —
thereby exorcise Kipps'
apparitions, sudden a brave and quixotic undertak-
demons.
THEATER
fogs, quicksand and a ing in an age of diminishing at-
This is Meadow Brook,
lady out for revenge.
and the play is Stephen Malla-
tention spans, and one ideally
But, somehow, even with the suited to an actor/director of
tratt's The Woman in Black,
based on a novel by Susan Hill. swell set, excellent lighting by Branagh's talents.
Reid G. Johnson and Phillip
And the idea is quite clever.
As the melancholy and re-
Treat us to the working out of Locker's able direction, this "Por- venge-spurred Dane, Branagh
Kipps' past encounters with a trait of a Lady" remains flat. A — in this latest addition to his
ghost in a Victorian mansion in frisson or two and the enjoyment string of Shakespeare adapta-
an isolated setting, and we will of watching actors splendidly en- tions, including last year's Oth-
be drawn into the aura of fore- gaged in acting cannot make ello — gives a performance that
this ghost come more than fit- is both respectfully derivative of
boding and suckered into fear.
Shakespeare did something fully alive.
his predecessors and novel in its
like it in the early scene between
personal dash.
Hamlet and his ghost-father and
By clothing the story in mod-
then continued on to write a
ern dress — if the 19th century
armies show up at the
— Michael H. Margolin qualifies as modern dress
great work. Mallstratt has pro-
gates — the doom of
duced a middling good thriller
— he also gives Hamlet
MOVIES
thrones is as powerful
which Meadow Brook has given Michael H. Margolin writes
a social and political
in fiction as it is in his-
a smashing production.
timeliness more relevant
about the arts.
Robert Grossman and John
to contemporary audiences. This, tory, and the shadows cast on the
screen here echo images we have
after all, is a story about a dys- seen
elsewhere.
functional royal family whose
The
supporting cast is
failings are seen sharply through
equally
impressive, although
the eyes of a somewhat vacillat-
Branagh's
didactic choices in
ing and tortured heir apparent.
filling several roles will un-
Crowns are tossed about, blood doubtedly raise eyebrows. Derek
flows on palace floors, hysteria
(a BranaglifAvorite seen
claims a victim or two, invading Jacobi
in his Henry V and Dead Again)

I

Kate Winslet as Ophelia.

as Claudius; Julie Christie (Dr.
Zhivago) as Gertrude; Kate
Winslet as Ophelia and Charl-
ton Heston as a majestic strolling
player — are all very fine and
good.
But Jack Lemmon and Ger-
ard Depardieu seem decidedly
out of place, and Robin Williams
is, quite frankly, an annoying
distraction as the foppish Osric.
Still, you haven't lived until
you've seen Billy Crystal as the
punning and philosophical grave
digger who shows up poor
Yorick's cranial remains.
At four hours, this epic may
c, prove too intimidating to the av-
erage filmgoer. There's nothing
wrong with being slavishly re-
spectful to the Bard, but a pru-
deht application of the shears
would not have wilted a perfect
rose, as Olivier proved nearly
half a century ago. However, if
your love of poetry and drama is
as uncompromising as
Branagh's, this is the film for
you.

`5
- -

John Seibert, left, and Robert Grossman star in the two-actor play, The Woman in
Black, through Feb. 2.

Bagel Barometer
®Q,
s )zot. 0, .....Outstanding

Q)
' *

98

...........V ery Good

— Robert del Valle

••.•.•••....••.•.•••.Good

••••• - ••••••••••••••••••

Fair

Robert del Valle leads Borders'
Jewish Book Group.

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in
Shakespeare's Hamlet