Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Wordiezett So much average

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

SnoopyStyle Orson Welles adapts the iconic William Shakespeare play about a prophecy from three witches that Macbeth will become the King of Scotland. Orson Welles stars as Macbeth. There are experienced stage and film actors. Sometimes they give overwrought stage performances. Then there are the over-pronounced r's. The varying levels of fake Scottish accents are distracting with the Shakespearian script. It comes and it goes depending on the time and the person.As for the Shakespearian script, there are a few differences and not just the usual subtractions. Welles added a Christian Holy Man to accentuate the conflict with the old religion. The sets are all interior sound stages. The costumes are a hodgepodge of wardrobe leftovers. Some are fine. Some are head-scratching like a weird sci-fi metal-bubbles shirt for Macbeth or the tridents and blank triangle shields for the soldiers. Through it all, Welles is doing intriguing camera shots and other stage craft to stretch the traditional play.

Eric Stevenson Looking back, I realize that Orson Welles received immense fame in movies like "Citizen Kane" and...that's about it. It's a pity the only other thing he did that was remembered was star in commercials about peas. "Citizen Kane" was so good every movie he made afterwards was compared to it. While that is of course his best work, I think it's important we look at all the other wonderful films he made as he truly was in a wide variety of classics. A lot of people probably haven't even heard of this version.This is a great movie because of all the wonderful costumes and set designs. Everything just has great atmosphere here. It's weird how the most recognizable elements from the story are the three witches, who appear relatively little in the play at all. I still regard "Throne Of Blood" as the best adaptation of this play and for that matter, probably any Shakespearean work. The acting is very good in this movie and they know how to create good atmosphere. It was interesting watching this and being reminded of the plot elements of the classic tale. It seems silly to put a synopsis as most people know it already. If not, this movie will refresh your memory as it is a wonderfully faithful adaptation. Orson Welles wanted to be remembered for all of his great movies. ***1/2

ma-cortes Orson Welles plays and directs splendidly the story about the tragic king who receives a mysterious prophecy from a trio of witches . Shakespeare's classic tragedy is interpreted with celebrated lead performances , being today highly regarded in English-speaking countries . This Macbeth (1948) was magnificently acted , directed by Orson Welles with great cast as Jeanette Nolan , Dan O'Herlihy , Roddy McDowall , Robert Coote , John Dierkes , among others , all of them speaking with authentic Scot accents . This is a low-budgeted retelling with cheap sets , a three-week shooting schedule and an attempt at Scottish accent . Macbeth (Welles) , the Thane of Glamis , and his underling Banquo (Edgar Barrier) have put down a rebellion and are to be rewarded by their overlord , King Duncan (Sanford) . On their way to their castle they meet three witches who prophesy that Macbeth will soon rule , but his kingdom will be short . They are dismissed as crazies but their prophesies come to pass . Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his astute spouse , his equally murderous woman (film debut of Jeanette Nolan) , Lady Macbeth (she is often referred to as "Lady M") , intriguing Macbeth subsequently murders his king and takes the throne for himself . The young Scots nobleman lusting for power , driven onward by crazed Lady and prophecies , all of them lead him to disasters , deaths and destructions . Notorious as well as low-budgeted -about 700.000 dollars- moody adaptation of the Shakespearean classic marked by unflinching happenings , expressionist production design and fatalistic atmosphere . Great example of movie adaptation , thanks to portentous interpretations , intense as well as tragic drama and magnificent filmmaking . A highly stylized and surrealistic approach Orson Welles took to the play . Interesting movie-making within a time frame of 3 weeks , filmed according to a screenplay by Welles . Shot entirely on strange interiors , as the inexpensive bizarre sets were designed by Orson Welles and Dan O'Herlihy , that deliberately emphasize its theatricality . A magnificent recounting of Shakespeare's Macbeth in which all the fire , doom , vengeance and ambition of his text come brilliantly to life . Although Shakespeare's Macbeth has little to do with Macbeth , the King , the real Macbeth was one of Scotland's better kings . Very well made film that contains stunning fight scenes , lots of mood , grisly killings , fine acting , breathtaking battles and being compellingly set in a barbaric society . Realized in cold and thought-provoking style that it bears remarkable resemblance to the Shakespearean original . However , some aspects differ from the original source material . This gripping and fabulous movie is an incredibly detailed vision in its own right . Main cast offers awesome performance and everybody speaks with a Scottish accent . Orson Welles gives a top-drawer acting as a demonic leader receives a prophecy from a trio of women that foretell one day he will become King of Scotland , being driven to self-destruction . Extraordinary support cast , such as Edgar Barrier as Banquo , Dan O'Herlihy as Macduff , Alan Napier as Holy Father , John Dierkes and Roddy MacDowall , who was already a veteran film player , as Malcolm , though he is out of his element . Gloomy as well as evocative cinematography , though very dark and plenty of lights and shades . This grim but compelling motion picture was well directed by Orson Welles who brought the Bard to Republic Pictures and Mercury Theatre , being filmed in 23 days on a very low budget . Although the film was a critical and commercial disaster in both the USA and England, it was a huge success in many non-English speaking countries, especially France, where critics could not understand how the American and British press failed to appreciate it . Most revival , remastering , and new editions now show Orson Welles's original version which runs 105 minutes and it has the cast playing in Scot language . ¨Macbeth¨ (1948) results to be , in fact , the classic rendition , being a followed by worthy continuations based upon Shakespearean classic play , these are the followings : Macbeth (1976) with Eric Porter , Janet Suzman ; Macbeth (1990) with Michael Jayston , Leigh Hunt , being produced as part of HBO's Thames collection ; Macbeth (1971) by Roman Polanski with John Finch , Francesca Annis , Martin Shaw , being first movie made by ¨Playboy Enterprises¨ , commissioned and underwritten by its President , publisher Hugh Hephner , it was torn apart by critics and originally rated X ; this storytelling is not for everyone and it packs some images that make it objectionable for kiddies or squeamish adults . Furthermore , a Japanese adaptation : Throne of Blood (1957) by Akira Kurosawa with Toshiro Mifune , Yamada , Shimura , this is Kurosawa's masterful rendition that transports the story to medieval Japan and the world of the samurai . And recent version (2015) with Michael Fassbender , Marion Cotillard , Sean Harris , Paddy Considine , David Thewlis , among others .

tieman64 "My purpose in making Macbeth was not to make a great film." - Orson WellesShot on a meagre budget over just 23 days, plagued by pre and post production problems and mutilated by Republic Pictures before being restored many years later, Orson Welles' "Macbeth" is nevertheless a fine take on William Shakespeare's now well-known tragedy. Welles keeps things interesting by passing the material through a noir filter, with devious femme fatales, expressionistic sets, chiaroscuro lighting, poor saps, much existential brooding, fated demises and an onslaught of clever compositions, long takes and camera tricks. One gets the impression that Welles, because he was plagued by financial and production difficulties, was always desperate to pack as much razzle dazzle into his films as possible. He might, after all, never get another chance to direct.Welles famously shot "Macbeth" only as a means of gathering funds for future projects. The film is nevertheless very good, and echoes a number of his other pictures (particularly "Citizen Kane"), with its characters who lust for power and whose aspirations for control, stature and "greatness" result in their own downfalls. This, of course, all echoes Welles' own tragic career. Welles the legend seems to himself be some great, fallen Shakespearean King, dethroned and left to wander alone in exile.Welles would direct three films based on Shakespeare's works (and many theatre productions, one of which was "Voodoo Macbeth", which featured an all African American cast), his best being perhaps "Chimes at Midnight". Welles' "Macbeth" doesn't quite touch Akira Kurosawa's and to a lesser extent Roman Polanski's take on the same Shakespeare play – Kurosawa's is more tense, subtle, restrained ("Throne of Blood"), Polanski's is gloomier, more corporeal – but there are stretches here that surpass anything Kurosawa and Polanski do. Welles' landscapes, bathed in shadow and ominous thunder, suggest some mad mind-space, where power's pursuit turns everyone into fanged barbarians, and every now and then he'll zap your eyeballs with some off-beat image or composition. Welles, who also stars in the film, also includes several sad passages which echo his' own off-screen wounds; the recent collapse of his marriage, the studio mutilations of "Shanghai" and "Ambersons", the collapse of several film projects...there's a strong autobiographical quality to Welles' films; Welles, the doomed and the damned.For those familiar with the "Macbeth" play, there isn't much new here; lots of talking heads, soliloquies and monologues. But a nightmarish, deliberately primitive aesthetic helps keeps the dialogue fresh, and the film should play well to younger audiences who've never read Shakespeare, sat through a stage-play, or are unfamiliar with "Macbeth's" plot.8/10 - Destroyed by critics and producers upon release, "Macbeth" would be reappraised with the release of a special "restored cut" in 1980. Worth two viewings. See Kurosawa's "Ran", one of the finest Shakespeare adaptations.