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	Tinseltown Tags Titles from Bard   (September 6, 2005) I was watching the classic film version of Hamlet with Laurence Olivier the other night on PBS and was surprised to note how vigorously Hollywood has plundered the famed (and brief) "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy for movie titles. Within those relatively few lines, I recognized four film titles: To Be Or Not to Be Outrageous Fortune What Dreams May Come The Undiscovered Country (Star Trek V) Here are the lines Tinseltown tagged: "To be or not to be, that is the question." "The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" "For in that dream of death what dreams may come" "The undiscovered country from whose bourn" (boundary) I took two semesters of Shakespeare in my years at the University of Hawaii, and yet I do not recall our very learned professor pointing out how shamelessly Hollywood (as well as various authors, e.g. "The Sound and the Fury," etc.) mined the Bard for titles. The Laurence Olivier version of Hamlet, in glorious black and white, is unparalleled in both the lighting (stark at times, fog-strewn in others), setting (the largely vacant, cold castle and wild landscape beyond, all worthy of Jean Cocteau at his finest) and in the delivery of secondary parts; I most especially recommend the scenes featuring the ghost of Hamlet's father. * * * copyright © 2005 Charles Hugh Smith. All rights reserved in all media. I would be honored if you linked this wEssay to your site, or printed a copy for your own use. * * *
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