Introduced by TomGunning Tom Gunning is Associate Professor of Film Historyat Northwestern University. His most recent book is D. W. Griffith and theOrigins of American Narrative Film: The Early Years at Biograph. Based not on Shakespeare alone but upon a variety of sources-includingan American professor's theory that Hamlet was in fact a woman forcibly raised asa man so as to succeed to the throne-Hamlet provided an extraordinary role forNielsen. She plays it as a tragedy of sexual ambivalence and thwarteddesire-hence the frustration of Hamlet's love for Laertes, and the oppositefrustration of Ophelia. The sets for this moody film range from lavish spectacleto dimly lit expressionist interiors, perhaps reflecting the duality of thecharacter him/herself. Roger Manvell wrote in Shakespeare and the Film:"This striking, if implausible, adaptation of the Hamlet story is by far themost interesting film of the 1920s to have any link with Shakespeare'swork." The director Sven Gade was Nielsen's second husband.