Cheap Macbeth (DVD) (Jon Finch, Francesca Annis) (Roman Polanski) Price

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Customer Reviews of Macbeth

"Blood will have blood..."
Roman Polanski's notoriously violent film of Shakespeare's notorious "Scottish play" doesn't quite satisfy as it should. His bleak modernist interpretation is ultimately just too limiting, still it's certainly a bruvura piece of moviemaking and can be best appreciated as such. After all, this is not really Shakespeare per se but a Polanski film: the prevailing themes of witchcraft, rampant paranoia, and finally triumphant evil pick up right where "Rosemary's Baby" left off. And life is certainly nasty, brutish, and short in this movie--Shakespeare's poetry takes a backseat to a surfeit of excruciatingly detailed mutilations with plenty of blades slashing through jugular veins, culminating in a truly epic decapitation. This "Macbeth" is a relentless homicidal debauch: Polanski displays the same technical virtuosity and gruesome inventiveness in staging the numerous murders here as he did in "Repulsion." All of Shakespeare's famous metaphors (e.g., "is this a dagger I see before me?") are garishly literalized and deliberately engineered as part of an escalating series of spectacular, cathartic, bloodier-than-hell set-pieces. Visually, the film is rich and vivid: the forbidding images of rain-swept moors and twilit horizons possess a spellbinding primeval quality. And there are a few brilliant, inspired moments such as when our murderous Scot, whilst lying in his bed-chamber, broods "I am so stepped in blood..." and the whole room is bathed in an eerie crimson light. But the scene that truly stands out is when he visits the witches in their lair and is shown his fate: it's a gorgeous, thrilling, and strikingly imaginative surrealist reverie. The actors--nearly all British stage pros--are solid and reliable. As Macbeth, morose, dark-eyed Jon Finch is really quite good--and he certainly does have the diction for the role. But Francesca Annis's sickly nymphet Lady Macbeth is a glaring (and oh-so-characteristic) lapse in judgement on the director's part. Weak-voiced, pasty-faced, and generally irritating, this petulant little urchin has neither the skill nor the presence to adequately bring off one of Shakespeare's most formidable women. Annis's feeble performance renders the basic psychological premise of the play--Lady Macbeth's manipulation of her husband to fulfill her delusions of grandeur--unconvincing to say the least. Finch just looks uncomfortably stricken while Annis acts coy and childish. All in all, Polanski's "Macbeth" is a decidedly thorny piece of work: since it was his first film following the murder of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate and friends by members of the Charles Manson cult, he seems to have had too much to prove here. By dispensing with the Bard's customary knot-tying closing speech and ending instead with an abrupt silent scene suggesting basically that the cycle of treachery and murder will spiral forever through the ages, Polanski overstates his case.

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Macbeth as it is
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.

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Vaulting Ambition
This is a terrific cinematic adaption of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The film is also known as "The Tragedy of Macbeth", or sometimes "Roman Polanski's Macbeth". Set in early medieval Scotland ( although filmed, I understand, in Wales ), this is a well-known tale of the ruthless ambition of a young noble, Macbeth, who is goaded into acts of evil by his scheming, manipulative wife. Macbeth literally murders his way to the throne of Scotland. Of course, we know what happens to those who "live by the sword" !

British actor, Jon Finch, has the title role, and he expertly peels away the various levels of his character's personality--his Macbeth is no cardboard villain. His performance is more than matched by Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth, whose twisted mind and blood-soaked hands drive her to madness. Performances by other members of this primarily British cast are all fine, with Martin Shaw particularly effective as Banquo.

The other "star" here, of course, is Polanski. The story of Macbeth, and the times in which it occurred, were brutal, primitive, stark--wars were constant--men settled disputes with swords, daggers, axes and maces--death was not heroic or pretty--women and children could be victims as well. Polanski portrays this environment with as much matter-of-fact authenticity as possible. There are certainly some gory scenes, even by current cinema standards, and the final battle between Macbeth and his sworn enemy Macduff is far from some of the choreographed sword fights in Hollywood movies. The spare landscape and ancient castles add to the atmosphere--for interior scenes, light is used very sparingly, to add to the mood and sense of foreboding.
The scenes with the three witches are creepy and effective.

I do have one question. The credits indicate that the script was written by Polanski and noted drama critic, Kenneth Tynan. Doesn't William Shakespeare deserve a little credit here ? Those soliloquies sound awfully familiar !

The DVD exhibits a decent, occasionally hazy, colour wide-screen picture. I was concerned at first when I noticed a vertical line on the right of the picture, but it disappeared, and the rest of the print seemed fine.

There have been numerous versions of this classic play, and I'm sure there will be more. How long before Kenneth Branagh decides that we need a new version on film ? In the mean time, Polanski's "Macbeth" gives us a totally engrossing, if bleak, cinematic experience.