Macbeth

Rating:
Summary: The Bard's Film Noir
Review: =====>

Shakespeare's tragic play of "Macbeth" (written circa 1606) is set in an atmosphere that's visually dark. There is only one brief moment of sunlight, just after King Duncan's murder by Macbeth. The rest of the play takes place in shadows, in rain, in storms, or in the middle of the night. Because the play is so short (it is, in fact, Shakespeare's shortest play), it resembles a nightmare that's filled with witches, prophesies, ghosts, the fantastical, bloody murder, suicide, paranoia, and dread.

Polanski's "Macbeth" (2 hours, 20 minutes) captures all this on film, especially the bleak atmosphere. But there is even more since Polanski makes shrewd decisions when rearranging, eliminating, and embellishing scenes from the original play but he retains Shakespeare's beautiful language as originally written.

We are shown Duncan's bloody murder by Macbeth and how he tries to cover up his crime by hacking up Duncan's guards. His ordered killing of Banquo is also shown. Thus we absolutely believe Macbeth when he utters, "I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er."

Finch and Annis make an attractive couple who are not too old to be ambitious. Lady Macbeth's beauty convinces us that she could seduce a man to kill a king, and from one scene to the next, Finch's face hardens, tracing his transformation from hero to hell-hound whereas Annis' face softens from shrewd schemer to suicidal sleepwalker.

The short Porter Scene just after Duncan's murder is fun to watch. It effectively provides some comic relief. And the final sword scene between Macbeth and Macduff is thrilling and exciting. You can see Macbeth's determination to win this duel (even though he has lost everything else) when he shouts, "Lay on Macduff / And damn'd be him that cries 'Hold, enough!'"

Even though this is a dark play, the scenery and sets are visually stunning. (The filming was at Shepperton Studios in London, England.) As well, the strong, Scottish music that occasionally plays in the background reminds us that we are watching a Scottish play.

Polanski adds little touches throughout the play to make it easier to understand and to heighten dramatic effect. My favorite is his chilling non-Shakespearean touch at the end. Just after Macbeth is killed and the tyranny of his reign is finally over, the scene shifts to Duncan's other son as he "accidentally" encounters the weird sisters.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

This movie is a worthy addition to the Bard's cinematic canon.

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Rating:
Summary: Macbeth as it is
Review: I'm not sure I agree with the statements that this is Polanski's personal adaptation of Macbeth. While the incidents in his life at that time undoubtedly had an affect on his rendering of Macbeth, I contend that Macbeth was always a gloomy story, and perhaps it was the that element of the story that drew Polanski rather than Polanski creating a gloomy story out of Macbeth.

That having been said, this is a fantastic film. It is extremely dark, at times shockingly brutal, but true to the play. The costumes are great, and the dirty, dusty castle setting is accurate for the era. There are very few lines that have been disregarded, and the dialogue does not embellish or add to Shakespeare's classic. Nobody has, before or since, had the gonads to really emphasize the darker elements of Shakespeare while staying true to the play. "Titus" tried, but inserted too much modern-day silliness to be considered a serious endeavour. This is as true to the play as it can get, and doesn't apologize for it. If you can get past the violence and the sometimes cheesy 70s background music, you will love it. In addition, its gloomy atmosphere and violence might actually have the added benefit nowadays of interesting kids in The Bard.

Rating:
Summary: An exemplary adaptation of the bard
Review: Roman Polanski's bloody, nihilistic 1971 screen version of Shakespeare's classic psychological study is an exemplary adaptation of the bard. With a literary talent as revered as Shakespeare is, one always fears individual re-interpretations of his work, especially in the medium of filmdom, which has been known to take some very dense literary works and turn them into action-packed, sex-laden Hollywood cliches. Polanski's take on on one of Shakespeare's greatest plays it not a completely literal, or line-by-line, rendering: it is an individual interpretation, probably highly influenced by the events in the director's life at the time (his wife had recently been murdered by Charles Manson's "family"), but still very true to the original spirit of the play. The choice of scenery and the setting of the movie (it was filmed in North Wales) perfectly conjures up the play's original Elizabethian-era Scotland. The castles and lodgings used throughout the movie were well-chosen and well-done. The cast, though relatively unknown, also does a great job. Jon Finch as Macbeth perfectly captures the tragic hero's nobility, immiment rage, and subsequent moral and mental decline. Francesca Annis convincingly portrays Lady Macbeth's inherently evil character and her handy persuasion abilities. Terence Bayler is a similarly convincing Macduff. Polanski has taken what was already a dark and gruesome story and made it into an absolute bloodbath. Shakespeare, perhaps necessarily, kept most of the fighting offstage; Polanski brings it to the forefront. The murder of Banquo, in particular, is quite bloody and absolute eye candy. The battle at the end of the movie, featuring Macduff's advancing army, is quite prolonged and features Macbeth in several extended sword fights; the final battle with Macduff is outstanding, and the latter carries off his head. Polanski adds gruesome touches in other areas that Shakespeare either left completely unmentioned or ambiguous, the murder of the murderers being a prime example (the naked, ghastly overweight witches and Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalking scene being other, somewhat more subtle, touches.) The tragedy was a dark and chilling tale to begin with, a brutally honest and open psychological portrayal of one man's fall from grace. Polanski turned it into an extremely break, nihilistic film almost totally devoid of humor (the only possible instances of the latter being the witch who flashes an innocent bystander and Macbeth's verbal assault on the unsuspecting messageboy.) The thoughtful and totally unexpected ending is another nice little personal touch of the director's. Overall, a distinct and highly personal rendering of a Shakesperian masterpiece -- a modern for future interpretors of the bard who wish to add their own personal touch to a play without bringing corruption to it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting Adaptation
Review: Polanski takes on William in a interesting adaptation. The colors, costumes, and scenery seem appropriate for the bleak story. A few problems though... Lady Macbeth does not seem as stong of a character and the famous speech at the end is weak. See it if you are a Polanski fan.

Rating:
Summary: Generally well acted
Review: For those of you (like me) who wince at a Roman Polanski production, and grow even more embarrassed when Hugh Hefner's name is attached to a project, let me say that this production is not as raunchy as you might think. The parts that might strike a person of refined sensibilities as a bit over the top include scenes where the witches are shown burying a severed hand, and where a nude Lady Macbeth washes her hands. Both the obviously rubber hand and the nudity are totally unnecessary. The movie would be better without them. That having been said, nevertheless, this is a powerfully presented version of Macbeth.

Rating:
Summary: The best.
Review: A powerful and nuanced production. Simply the best film version, hands down. No staginess, no stiffness, Polanski delivers the essential Macbeth. Forget all that mumbo-jumob about Tate-Manson, this version stands completely on its own as a stunning film version of Shakespeare's work.

Rating:
Summary: Easily Understandable
Review: I watched it as part of revision for my SATS and it really helped, at times it was a little gory but that made it interesting!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty darn good...
Review: Very true to the play, clever interpretation of "desert heath."
Several rubuttles: Violence: yes, much violence that occured onscreen was never meant to, but why did Shakespeare write it such in the first place? Realistic onstage death/dismemberment was difficult (if not impossible) in the 16oos. In fact, live violence in modern theatres is still either badly done or heavily stylized. Youy also must remember, this was the first movie Polanski made after the Manson "family" raped and mudured his.
Gratuitous nudity: See above. Also, witches in Victorian times were thought to spend coven meeting naked, so if anything, polanski's version is even more correct than most productions. Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene was also acurate: sleeping au natural has never been rare. And remember: the parts of all naked characters that are taboo to film are almost always conveniently covered (such as by the arm of a closer witch, or Lady macbeth's long hair). The one exception is Lady Macbeth's posterior, but that was only fora few seconds and really isn't all that risque. The fact that the sleapwalking scene was in at all was surprising: most directors delete it.
Dissapointment: No Scottish accents. I know Shakespeare was English, and probably so were the original actors, but the play IS set in Scotland, and a few Scotish accents would have been nice (a minor detail, however).

Rating:
Summary: RRR- Rating,for absolute violence and blood.....
Review: I remember this film,if you like to see heads getting cut off by a sword,a woman getting raped,and a man getting hit in the face with a 'chain mail' and seeing blood splatter all over the place,this is the movie to get.In my opinion,I have never seen a movie of a historical figure depicted in this unique fashion or point of view. This movie has a lot of gore scenes,if you have kids,you'll stay away from this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Spirited, Insightful Production, Aging Well
Review: I remember the controversy attending the release of this film, which focused on two things: the nudity, which struck some reviewers as a gratuitous imposition by the producer, Hugh Hefner (although the famous nude sleepwalking scene was in the Polanski-Tynan script well before Playboy's involvement in the picture), and the gobbets of blood, which to some seemed a needless genuflection to the Bonnie and Clyde-Wild Bunch trend toward gore in action cinema. Thirty years later, these controversies seems silly. This is simply an extremely well-staged and filmed version of a play everyone knows, which has been reconceived by Roman Polanski (when he was still hot) for film and loaded with genuinely cinematic values--from the dramatic Welsh locations to interesting camera movement and jump-cut editing to the (overdone) use of voice-overs in the drama's many soliloquies.

As for the criticisms of the early 1970s, Macbeth is, after all, a play with a substantial sexual undertow, and even when staged in the 17th century, it was very, very bloody. The language cries "blood!" and if the production doesn't show it, the words seem false. What Polanski does, of course, is to show things, with those freshets of blood for emphasis, that the Bard transacted off stage. Jon Finch, who American audiences might know best from Hitchcock's Frenzy, and Francesca Annis, never more beautiful, compel attention as youthful Laird and Lady. Remember that the Macbeths are Shakespeare's most happily married couple: based on these performances, I can believe this. The adaptation is very straightforward and runs some 2 hours and 20 minutes; as Macbeth is one of the shortest plays in the Shakespearean oeuvre, you get a lot of Bard for the Buck; most of it is there--I didn't do a simultaneous textual comparison--albeit in truncated form from time to time.

If I were rating this film on the basis of performances and production alone, I'd give it a straight five. It is stunning and, to my mind, among the handful of genuinely compelling Shakespeare films, along with Branagh's Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing and both Olivier's and McKellen's Richard III. (I also love Derek Jacobi's Hamlet in the BBC series.) Polanski makes uncommonly sensible directorial choices, with two exceptions: the climactic duel between Macbeth and Macduff goes on entirely, even comically, too long (although the preceding scenes--in which Macbeth the Invincible strides through the army of his foes like Sauron in the Battle for Middle Earth--and the following--when Macbeth's severed head makes an eerie, even hallucinogenic (yes, this was the '70s) progression though the Dunsinane courtyard on its way to the inevitable pike--are stunningly mounted. And the excessive use of voice-over consigns many of Macbeth's greatest speeches to "thought"--fine, of course, soliloquy does indeed represent "thought," and film is the medium that can create the requisite illusion--but I, for one, nevertheless longed to see and hear these immortal words properly "acted" and intoned with lips a-flapping.

I dock the VHS version a star for its muffled sound--cinematic or no, Shakespeare is nothing without the glorious language--and would recommend, sight unseen and sound unheard, the DVD version, which has absolutely no extras to commend itself but must have clearer sound and is in full widescreen, to boot, making it therefore by definition preferable to the VHS (unless, like me, you were able to cop a VHS bargain).