Something is rotten in the high school of Bloomfield!

After watching the three different versions of Hamlet, I liked Zefferelli's version the best. I think he did a great job of setting a dreary mood with the opening scene. The cloudy sky made the atmosphere dark and melancholy. The soldiers and the castle looked very forlorn. I loved Zefferelli's choice of actors. Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius were all exactly as I imagined. There is not a hint of weeping or sadness in Claudius' face. He is watching Gertrude the entire time. Gertrude also looks up at Claudius when she is weeping over Hamlet.Sr's grave. I thought that Zefferelli did a great job of highlighting Gertrude's seeming virtuousness. She walks around as if she is a young girl in love. There is not a hint of despair over the death of her husband. Instead of weeping, she runs around giggling and kissing Claudius. Mel Gibson was a great choice for Hamlet. I especially like the fact that he has a beard. It gives his person a more disheartened mood. His hate for his mother is seen through his eyes. His soliloquy was okay. He did not do a great job with it. I felt like he could have put more anger into it. The sadness in his voice and body is clear but the anger is not. Instead of feeling angry, I felt like he was frustrated. Hamlet in the other versions are not as I imagined. In the Almereyda version, Hamlet looks more like he is hungover than sad. He just looks like a bum off the streets. I also felt that Gertrude was best played in Zefferelli's depiction. I liked the costumes and the setting better in the Zefferelli version. The mediveal castle was better than the Victorian castle or the Modern tower.The knights costumes were exactly what I imagined them to be wearing. The Almereyda version had suits, which just took away the entire royalty feel of the novel. Overall, I feel that Zefferelli did a better job of choosing the actors, the costumes and the setting as well. The only aspect of this version that I disliked was that the movie did not open with the ghost scene as in the book.