Roman Polanski's 1971 presentation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, like Orson Welles's version before it, depicts medieval Scotland as a brutish and harsh world; but unlike Welles, Polanski shot his film on location in Great Britain, delivering authentic rocky, windswept landscapes and lonely, rough-hewn castles. Jon Finch plays a rather youngish Macbeth, a loyal soldier tempted by the prophecy of three witches on the heath, who murders his way to the throne, and then tries to hold onto it through violence, terror, and bloody betrayal—abetted by the ever-scheming Lady Macbeth (Francesca Annis). Like all feature-film versions of the play, this one streamlines the text, but at over two hours it is more complete than most, and Polanski (borrowing an idea from Laurence Olivier's Hamlet) renders many of the soliloquies as internal monologues that the characters deliver as they move through the castle, keeping the momentum going. Polanski directed this adaptation soon after his wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by Charles Manson's followers; that may be one reason for the dour tone and grotesque portraits of victims from Macbeth's murderous rampage (only a few deaths are shown onscreen, but the violence of the murders is suggested in the bloody aftermaths). Remastered from a new digital transfer supervised by Polanski, Criterion's DVD and Blu-ray editions feature extras including new and archival “making-of” documentaries, excerpts from archival TV interviews with Polanski and co-writer Kenneth Tynan, and a booklet. One of the most interesting and unforgiving cinematic versions of Shakespeare's classic, this is highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)
Macbeth
Criterion, 140 min., not rated, DVD: 2 discs, $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95 Volume 30, Issue 1
Macbeth
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