Macbeth

Director: Orson Welles Orson Welles

Overview

In this adaptation of Shakespeare's tragic tale of the rise and fall of ambitious 12th-century Scottish warrior MacBeth, Orson Welles stars in the title role, with his old radio colleague Jeanette Nolan as Lady MacBeth. Dan O'Herlihy plays MacDuff, Roddy MacDowell is Malcolm, and Edgar Barrier the unfortunate Banquo.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/18/2012
UPC:	0887090043908
Original Release:	1948
Rating:	NR
Source:	Olive
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital]
Language:	English
Time:	1:47:00
Sales rank:	19,509

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Orson Welles	Macbeth,Macduff Child
Jeanette Nolan	Lady Macbeth
Dan O'Herlihy	Macduff
Roddy McDowall	Malcolm
Edgar Barrier	Banquo
Erskine Sanford	Duncan
John Dierkes	Ross
Keene Curtis	Lennox
Peggy Webber	Lady Macduff
Lionel Braham	Siward
Archie Heugly	Young Siward
Morgan Farley	Doctor
Lurene Tuttle	Gentlewoman
Brainerd Duffield	1st Murderer
William Alland	2nd Murderer
George 'Shorty' Chirello	Seyton
Gus Schilling	A Porter
Jerry Farber	Fleance
Charles Lederer	Witch
Alan Napier	A Holy Father
Robert Coote	Actor
Jacques Ibert	Composer

Technical Credits

Orson Welles

Orson Welles	Director,Producer,Screenwriter
Richard Wilson	Producer
Charles K. Feldman	Producer,Executive Producer
Howard Lydecker	Special Effects,Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

The first of Welles' Shakespeare adaptations has been so heavily cut that it's basically a vigorous sketch of the play, albeit one of sustained visual invention. While one might at first be put off by the evident limitations of the film's shoestring budget, such as Macbeth's seemingly papier-mâché crown, Welles puts one under his spell with noirishishly dark compositions, brisk editing, and characteristically relentless tracking shots. Echoing his historic 1936 stage voodoo Macbeth, the director conjures a primitive and barbaric world whose fetish objects, impaled heads, and cave-like settings are opposed by the Chistianity of Welles' invented Holy Father. This Macbeth is one driven less by his wife's ambition than his own megalomania, a familiar attribute of the director's protagonists, but Welles' acting is uneven, at best. The same could be said for the rest of the cast, particularly Jeanette Nolan, whose unique Lady Macbeth is either an exhibition of rank scenery-chewing or a performance of intriguingly Kabuki-like stylization. Yet, with all its flaws, the film has a powerful momentum, and if not the definitive film version of the play, as a record of Welles' incomparable eye, it's a fascinating artifact.