While looking at three different versions of Hamlet, I could clearly tell that each of the directors an actors had their own visions of the story. In Zeffirelli's production, staring Mel Gibson as Hamlet, the scene comes off as the more dark and eerie of the three. Gibson's acting easily depicted Hamlet in the scene as frightened and confused at the sight of the dead king, but also curious. As for the ghost, his actors puts on an excellent performance with his voice matching the eerie setting of the scene. The only thing that some what weakens their performance is the fact that the lighting takes away most of the facial expressions throughout most of the scene.
In the second film adaptation of the famous Shakespearian play, the acting is the slightest bit overwhelmed by the overuse of visuals during the scene. The actors speech is also very different, compared to that of Zeffirelli's film, because it takes on a more intense form of acting. Which included the ghost's voice somewhat being more sinister and bit scary. This however, brought a stronger sense of emotion during the visuals that describing the kings unusual murder. It also provided more when the ghost's actor would raise and lower his voice. However, the down side to this scene was how little of a part Branagh actually played during the scene.
Finally in the third version of the play, we are introduced to a modern version of the play directed by Almereyda where the acting honestly is best supported by the music that plays in the background. Throughout the scene we see the ghost speaking to Hamlet with the same language and same Shakespearian style, but it lack the true emotion that the other film adaptations display. The only thing that actually brought out emotion would be the addition of the sad and heartfelt music playing in the background. However, there was a true spot of emotion by Hamlet, played by Ethan Hawk, when he encounters the specter who appears before him. He truly brought out the feeling of shock and despair that Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to portray.
YES! I couldn't agree more with you for both your comments on the second and third movie, for the second movie, right off the bat as his father begins to speak, there is just a constant transition to different visuals like, the tearing of the ground itself... the forming mist, rocks, trees etc. However the way that all the actors speak and portray their emotions totally has a different effect in the overall story telling. It gave them emotion and the capability to pique the viewers interest via their eccentric qualities. Then in the third version I feel as though it is more like the mvoie itself was dependent on the music being played for them to help aid them in portraying their emotions~.
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