Macbeth (1971)
Macbeth (1971), directed by Roman Polanski.
A brutal presentation of the story, but a fine reading of the text and -- strange to say -- a lovely film version. Dark, lurid and sometimes perverse, but beautiful in its way.
Reviews at the time were not so kind. I think the factors were:
Excessive, explicit violence when that was still pretty new in film.
Coming so soon after the Manson murders of Polanksi's wife and others, people uncomfortably wondered if he wasn't playing his personal horror out on screen.
A younger than normal cast in the leads.
Nudity by Francesca Annis, a boy in his bath, and a coven of withered, toothless crones. Only the first of those is appealing.
Funded by Hugh Hefner, meaning it couldn't be a serious film.
The actors are all fine, and actually expert in something important in filmed Shakespeare: in enacting the words rather than always speaking them. Traditionally Shakespeare is text-oriented, but movies that are filmed stage versions where the actors declaim tend to be dull. Modern treatments that have become more "filmic" are a good development.
Polanski uses a combined approach. Many voiceover narrations of the text give more flexibility to the staging.
Misc notes:
I last saw Jon Finch as the unlikeable protagonist of Frenzy (1972). He's a fine Shakespearean and I wish he had done more. He played Bolingbroke/Henry IV in three plays of the BBC Television Shakespeare series later in the decade.
Lovely Francesca Annis is an unusual Lady Macbeth. She does not have a villainous persona: those eyes, that porcelain skin make her seem totally innocent. Her nude sleepwalking scene is very mild now, but much more exciting at the time.
Martin Shaw as Banquo: he later starred in many UK TV series.
The Macbeths switch places after murdering the king: he had been hesitant, she bold. Both go mental and neither can sleep.
I always thought the "knocking at the gate" after the murder was meant to suggest the Devil come to collect souls. The porter plays it that way for comedy.
Everyone instantly suspects the Macbeths: each word and gesture points to their guilt.
I like what they do with character's attitudes in this version. Often, to accentuate the nightmare quality of the story, everyone is oppressed and cowering. Here the doctor and nurse make ironic comments during the sleepwalking scene. The Scottish lords laugh together about the dangerous times: "a man must not walk at night". Sure, Macbeth is tough, but so are they.
When it is clear the cause is lost, Macbeth's few remaining retainers flee the castle. That's life.
The invading soldiers have a supernatural dread of Macbeth, a nice touch.
These are grim times of serious warfare, with mass executions after the battles are lost and won.
On the other hand it's not all war: we have realistic looking scenes of busy castle life.
We have a scene of bear-baiting.
Criterion Blu-ray.
