If you aren't already chewing your nails to the quick with impatience for the opening of Kenneth Branagh's four hour film extravaganza, this book will set you to gnawing - as, indeed, it is designed to do, with page upon page of spectacular colour stills, a lively introduction by the man himself (Ken, not Will) and a shooting diary by Russell Jackson which, while unremarkable in itself, serves to underline the fragmented nature of film making and make you marvel anew that all these out of synch bits and pieces can be woven into a seamless whole. In his introduction Branagh recalls Hamlets of yore, and explains his decision to use the "eternity" version of the text: "On top of the domestic tragedy which engulfs a royal family the play seemed an all embracing survey of life. It was harsh, vigorous and contemporary in feel. . ."
The latter discovery, needless to say, will come as no surprise to those of us who sat enthralled through every minute of a four hour Hamlet in Romanian at the 1990 Dublin Theatre Festival, with Ion Caramitru (now Romanian Minister for Culture) as the procrastinating prince.
