''Hamlet'', also known as ''Le Duel d'Hamlet'', is a 1900 French film adaptation of an excerpt from the

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. It is believed to have been the earliest film adaptation of the play, and starred actress Sarah Bernhardt in the lead role. It was directed by

Clément Maurice : Clément Maurice (1853–1933) was a French photographer, film director, and producer. Career First employed in the Lumière factories, where he entered in 1894, he became a portrait photographer in Paris, where he settled in Antoine Lumi� ...

. The film is two minutes in length; it features the duel scene between Hamlet and

Laertes In Greek mythology, Laertes (; grc, Λαέρτης, Laértēs ; also spelled Laërtes) was the king of the Cephallenians, an ethnic group who lived both on the Ionian islands and on the mainland, which he presumably inherited from his father A ...

(Act V). ''Hamlet'' was one of the first films to employ the newly discovered art of pre-recording the actors' voices, then playing the recording simultaneous to the playing of the film. The film was synchronized to a wax cylinder recording, providing the sound, which cylinder is now lost. ''Hamlet'' was shown for first time in The Exposition Universelle on October 1, 1900 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

External links

* * Early sound films 1900 films French black-and-white films French silent short films 1900s French-language films Films based on Hamlet Films directed by Clément Maurice French films based on plays 1900s French films {{1900s-France-film-stub