HAMLET

Original 10 inch x 8 inch Still of LAURENCE OLIVIER & EILEEN HERLIE in the 1948 Laurence Olivier Drama HAMLET based on the play by William Shakespeare.

Olivier took best film and actor Oscars for his intelligent, marvellously cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. Its main virtue is the splendid Old Vic-style acting from an overaged Sir Larry, Herlie, Sydney, Simmons and Holloway. Director Olivier swoops majestically around the castle at Elsinore and Desmond Dickinson’s black-and-white photography is beautifully crisp.

Portrait attributed to Wilfrid Newton. Born in 1909 Newton entered the film industry as assistant in the Stills Department of the Gaumont Company, in 1927 and worked there for nine years before going to Ealing Studios, where he built and managed the Stills Department until 1942. He then joined Two Cities at Denham and then became a specialist photographer to the J. Arthur Rank Organisation. His others photo credits include 39 Steps, Jew Suss, Next of Kin, Henry V and Hamlet.

The still is in very good condition with minor warping due to synopsis tacked to reverse and numbers and arrows marked in ink in the top border.