Now you mention it, my visual memory of Sense and Sensibility seems to hover more around the old BBC production, which had a Colonel Brandon whose preference for flannel one could really believe in.

I wonder whether Hamlet hasn't acquired some immunity by being produced just so many times that it's impossible to imagine any one vision gaining the kind of dominance that Jackson's LOTR arguably has (and is likely to keep for the foreseeable future)? The other way of looking at it is to say that Shakespeare's play is infinitely adaptable and re-visionable because of WS's infinitely subtle mind, etc, and I wouldn't argue with that - but I think the sheer proliferation of productions may also be a factor.