Macbeth (1948)

Orson Welles had already made a big splash with an adaptation of Macbeth. In the 1930s, before he made Citizen Kane, he mounted a production of the play using black actors, set in Haiti. It became known as the "Voodoo Macbeth." His film version, released in the UK in 1948 and the U.S. in 1950, was much more medieval Scotland, and was shot on a shoestring for Republic Pictures, a B-movie outfit that was best known for its Roy Rogers films.

Welles, as would be his custom with Shakespeare, didn't follow the text religiously. Today it is acceptable to monkey with the lines and move things around, but at the time it was seen as sacrilegious, and the reception was mixed, to say the least. But this film succeeds because of the atmosphere created, of a fog shrouded moonscape (that made use of old Western sets on the Republic lot).

The first surprise is that, after the first scene with the witches, he cuts the entire "bloody sergeant" scene, in which a wounded soldier recounts the exploits of Macbeth in battle. This makes sense to me, as it is an example of Shakespeare telling rather than showing. Instead we get right to Macbeth and Banquo coming upon the witches, and hearing their prophecies. The film is a brisk 103 minutes, so there's not much time for anything extraneous. We don't see Duncan until he arrives at Macbeth's castle (which is really just a collection of rock formations).

Jeanette Nolan is Lady Macbeth, and she plays her as out and out vicious. One of the problems with the play is that after the banquet scene, in which Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost, she and Macbeth are never on stage together again--she only has her sleepwalking scene. Welles alleviates that somewhat, by having him witness her sleepwalking, and then showing her death, when she throws herself off a cliff.

By boiling the play down to its essence it makes for a frightful good time. I missed some scenes, such as the conjuring scene, when Macbeth sees the demons raised by necromancy (and the procession of eight kings in Banquo's line) but no matter. Welles' Macbeth is muscular and spooky, as it should be.

My only complaint about the film, and Welles realized it, was the ridiculous costumes. There are a collection of some of the most ludicrous hats you've ever seen. Malcolm and Macduff and their army wear what look like bird's nests with Celtic crosses in them, and Macbeth wears a crown that is square. At the end of the film he wears a crown-like object with spikes coming out of it, and Welles noted he looked like the Statue of Liberty. This is one problem with a low budget. He would have been better off nixing the headgear.