Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
DVD9 | ISO | PAL | 16:9 | 720x576 | 5800 kbps | 7.0Gb
Audio: #1 English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #2 French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #3 German AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #4 Spanish AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
02:20:00 | UK, USA | Drama
DVD9 | ISO | PAL | 16:9 | 720x576 | 5800 kbps | 7.0Gb
Audio: #1 English AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #2 French AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #3 German AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps, #4 Spanish AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps
Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
02:20:00 | UK, USA | Drama
A ruthlessly ambitious Scottish lord siezes the throne with the help of his scheming wife and a trio of witches.
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler, John Stride, Nicholas Selby, Stephan Chase, Paul Shelley, Maisie MacFarquhar, Elsie Taylor, Noelle Rimmington, Noel Davis, Sydney Bromley, Richard Pearson, Patricia Mason, Michael Balfour, Andrew McCulloch, Keith Chegwin, Andrew Laurence, Bernard Archard, Bruce Purchase, Frank Wylie, Diane Fletcher, Mark Dightam, Bill Drysdale, Roy Jones, Vic Abbott, Ian Hogg, Geoffrey Reed, Nigel Ashton
IMDb
Roman Polanski's version of Shakespeare's tragedy about a Scottish lord who murders the king and ascends the throne. His wife then begins hallucinating as a result of her guilt complex and the dead king's son conspires to attack MacBeth and expose him for the murderer he is.
~ Jason Ihle
Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
"The Tragedy of Macbeth" (simply abbreviated "Macbeth" on most video covers) is a violent retelling of Shakespeare's classic story. Macbeth (Jon Finch), the Scottish Thane of Glamis, conspires with his wife Lady Macbeth (and three strange witches) to kill the widely-respected King Duncan. After committing the awful deed, Macbeth begins hallucinating, hearing strange omens of death and haunting words; his wife similarly becomes worried with Macbeth's bloodlust, and Duncan's son convinces himself that Macbeth was involved in some way with the killing.
"Macbeth" is a true tragedy, and chances are you already know a great deal about it as it seems to be a high school requirement that it be read by all students. The remarkable thing about Roman Polanski's movie is that it is not only a painfully accurate retelling of William Shakespeare's story, but doesn't flinch when it comes to violence.
According to IMDb's trivia section (and I can't honestly say how reliable this information is, mind you), Polanski included very violent scenes (such as Duncan's death, which is NOT detailed in the original text) because the movie was filmed around the same time period of Sharon Tate's brutal murder, and it was Polanski's way of venting stress and anger. One must imagine what happens to Duncan in this film is what Polanski wanted to do to the Manson family members (and you certainly can't blame him).
As such, knowing the circumstances of what brought about the violence, it is more forgivable and certainly maintains a haunting element - some kind of historical relic, just in knowing that it was filmed during such a terrible time in Polanski's life.
The movie as a whole is wonderful. As I mentioned above, its accuracy (in comparison to Shakespeare's text) is spot-on – entire scenes of dialogue are taken directly from the source, and even the strong violence lends the film a more realistic nature.
Overall, it's an epic and (sadly) somewhat forgotten Shakespeare epic. If you enjoyed "Hamlet" or "Romeo and Juliet" (the '60s version) you'll certainly find this engaging, and - at times - rather shocking, too.
Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
Macbeth / The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)
