I first saw this when I was in high school and thinking of becoming an actor. Burton's performance and the film's highly romantic vision of Booth as the brooding "natural" Hamlet hooked me. Although it has the outlines of a typical biopic, The Prince of Players offers an extraordinary display of the kind of acting that, at its best, dominated the 19th century stage. Burton was one of the few 20th century artists who knew how to balance a ringing declamatory style with honest, full bodied emotions. It is so different from the typical modern understatement that some audience won't be able to adjust to it. But for those who relish language along with fire in the blood, this is as good as it gets on film. The portrait of the actor Edwin Booth, a man overburdened with the cares of the world, as impetuous, self-indulgent, and nearly batty, is a bit overheated. But it's a typical view of the artist in the mad tradition of Poe. Very 19th Century--and well worth knowing.
Review of Prince of Players
