Macbeth [DVD] [1971]

Wanting to augment my reading of Macbeth – I browsed the possibilities and bought a DVD of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s TV version made in the 1970’s.I was very disappointed. From the start – most of the speech was gabbled and/or inaudible. There is no theatrical experience. Actors advance out of darkness into light, speak their lines and retire. They are dressed in a mish mash of costumes – some in modern dress, one in an Aran sweater. There is no break between scenes. I don’t think that a close up of Macbeth dribbling does anything for the story.I watched the whole of the RSC version - but knew that better representations of the play must have been recorded. So the following week - I bought Roman Polanski’s film version. From the opening shot, I knew it would be better.Admittedly - it is still not a theatrical experience – it is a film experience. But nothing is lost and much is gained. From the opening speeches – the actors were audible and spoke at a decent rate. They used pauses to allow the listener to absorb the impact of the words, the facial expressions matched the words being spoken without (as in the RSC version) melodramatic contortions, and without spraying spittle. The costumes in the film version attempted to represent 11th or 12th century Scotland.In parts - the Polanski version is very gory. In addition to Shakespeare’s words – there are lots of visuals of external vistas and interiors which some might think redundant to the play. But I think they were a useful addition.Overall – the RSC TV version was not a pleasure to watch. The Polanski version was.

Not really, it's a joint effort! So calm down. ok!Now.If there ever was a man to get me in to anything it would be my favorite director ........Roman Polanski. When I read Macbeth a few years back in school with the usual analyzing and bla bla bla I could not stand it, except maybe for the odd lines.Hmm So why some may think would I buy the film of a play I did not like? Well because it's Polanski and I was collecting all he'd DVD'S.I was a bit dubious the first time I watched it but I was also reasonably won over and I watched it again the same week. And soon realized it's a beautiful film the bleakness of the landscapes plays so well with the dialogue, it draws even more from the wonderful words. In this enclosure of tight black skies, and incredibly bitter lines of dialogue it creates an almost claustrophobic atmosphere. Seems to grab me further in to the story with a certain melancholy embrace, that holds me tight longing me to come inside, and that in turn gave me a greater understanding of Shakespeare's words. Which is a miracle; because I really didn't like him for many reasons, but this film makes me even want to read Shakespeare. Gawd blimey! That really is a miracle. Long live Roman Polanski! Maybe also, old Willy but he seems to of succeeded in that already.

Polanski is surprisingly sensitive in filming novels(Tess,Rosemary's Baby,Oliver Twist The Ghost);here he is, turning Shakespeare's drama Macbeth, into Polanski's Macbeth.Like a medieval sequel to Rosemary's Baby,it's filled with necromancy,murder,evil and witchcraft.Dark,dank,muddy and dangerous,filmed in appropriate locations(shot in Wales and Northumberland).The vision of a pagan,nihilistic universe full of death, revenge,superstition and prophecy.The mad ambition of Macbeth, galvanised by the witches and Lady Macbeth,sets him on his vaunting path from warrior virtue, as the Thane of Cawdor, to the murderer of Duncan, to become king.Polanski somehow guts the play(assisted by Tynan) of rhetoric(soliloquies filmed as thoughts),films an imagined blade as a real one,earths the verbal gymnastics in a kinetic narrative,so that pacing,momentum of set-pieces,rich visualization,fluent editing,create an atmosphere of dark nightmare and momentous terror.Gory,bloody,brutish and scary,this primeval world leaves nothing to the imagination,limbs lopped off,decapitations,the murder of McDuff's wife and children in their home,the ripping of babies from wombs is visualised,Banquo's ghost looks freshly murdered,Duncan is savagely stabbed while asleep.Weighed down by guilt and sleeplessness,Macbeth seeks out the witches for reassurance that he will not be defeated and to protect him from despair.Distraught with guilt,Lady Macbeth walks(nakedly) and talks in her sleep,betraying the secret of Duncan's murder. The images of the film take the place of Shakespeare's language with spectacular realization and a modernist interpretation, using a rhythm and pacing that is Polanski's own,filmed as it was 2 years after the brutal murder of his wife Sharon Tate.This real experience bleeds into the raw and nasty feelings of dread.Jon Finch as Macbeth has a dark,lean energy and ferocity,Annis as Lady Macbeth,captures the fragility of madness rather than manipulative eroticism.Martin Shaw is superb as Banquo.The ending suggests the whole cycle of betrayal and murder will begin again.Shakespeare,in making a sympathetic Banquo(legendary ancestor of the Stuart kings),intended some flattery to James I;the play also appealed to his well-known interest in witchcraft.The real star is Polanski for one of the best filmed Shakespeares ever.The witches coven is something else.

Finch is okay I suppose but doesn't really come across as a murdering psychopath.Subtitled so its easy to follow the Bards flowery text.The witches were good, we all know the sort..;)

Not being a fan of the bard and absolutely loathing the often over the top performances that tend to accentuate the flowery language, and caricatures that make up the central characters this cinematic version of the Scottish play is refreshingly missing the usual excess of pork that accompanies Elizabethan drama.The film manages to convey a truly spooky quality and the death sequence of Duncan (spoiler ahead) is beautifully brutal and has a sense of reality. I still basically don't like Shakespeare but this presentation is the closest thing to bringing one of his works to the screen in a way that feels gritty and convincing in the way most versions fail.