Italian/german (?) identification

[mulholand]

DavidS wrote:

> I remember the scene from Hamlet with the
> skull. The version I saw was dubbed into German and the actor
> read 'To be or not to be ', (Sein oder nicht sein) although in
> the original Shakespeare play the skull was used in 'Alas poor
> Yorrick'. Whether the double meaning of 'Sein oder nicht sein'
> in German, but not in English, had any relevance to the scene I
> am not sure.
> Perhaps a German contributor can help?

There's no hidden meaning what so ever to be found here, DavidS. Although it's incorrect Shakespeare (the skull does indeed belong in the graveyard scene, discussing Yorick), many film scenes show Hamlet holding the skull while quoting the "To be or not to be" passage, probably because it's the easiest way to establish a Hamlet setting. This tradition has been along at least since 1941 and Ernst Lubitsch's "To be or not to be", a title of a somewhat different genre than generally discussed here.

[DavidS]

Thanks mulholland. The double meaning is in German 'sein oder nicht sein' can mean 'to be or not to be' or 'his or not his'. It is often used in German comedy although, it would seem, not here.

[alec]

Hamlet X was Luca Damiano, not d'Amato, but who knows how much they collaborated.

[joe king]

according to "Porno Holocaust die filme des Joe D'Amato'", Hamlet X was 1994 with directors Luca Damiano and Joe D'Amato (Aristide Massaccesi)