Macbeth

1981
6.6| 2h12m| en
Details

An adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

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Reviews

Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
boudica10 I agree that it is one of the worst versions of Macbeth ever made. Perhaps the worst. Brett overacts and Laurie is just ludicrous. The one good feature is the choreography for the three Witches. I had to preview this for inclusion in a college curriculum. All of us in the small audience (admittedly of English teachers) were laughing hysterically by the middle of the film. I am a strong admirer of Jeremy Brett, though even as Sherlock Holmes, he sometimes was over the top. His performance here is embarrassing. The Trevor Nunn video with Dench and McKellan is by far the best Macbeth ever put on film. I first saw it in the 1980's and have never forgotten it. Now if only some producer would pay to have Patrick Stewart's recent Chichester Macbeth on DVD, we would have two great productions to enjoy.
didi-5 It sounded so promising. Jeremy Brett in the title role, with Piper Laurie as Lady M and Simon MacCorkindale as Macduff. So far, so good.That's where it stops. They are all dreadful. Very sad to say it, but who on earth allowed this mistake out into the wide world? I'm curious since there's ample evidence that Brett and Laurie at least are capable of performances of more depth and less posturing and declaiming than this. Was it then their director's fault? It's tempting to think so. MacCorkindale - well, he's adequate I suppose but by the time Macduff gets going it is far too late for this production.I'm afraid I watched it once and it has been stuck on my video shelf covered with dust ever since. Maybe I'll give it another go someday. But not until the memory of being bored stiff by it recedes.
PhiFitz With a high school student struggling through the text, we found two stageplay versions on film, this one with Jeremy Brett (RIP, Sherlock Holmes) and Piper Laurie, and the McKellen/Dench version. I have seen three ways to film a stageplay. (1) Put up a few cameras with an audience present (never works). (2) Take a cast used to performing before an audience and reblock for cameras and shoot with no audience (this version). (3) Forget audience, block and perform entirely for film (McKellen/Dench).So this Brett/Laurie version features actors who project as though they must entertain people 100 feet away, and they move through a paragraph of lines as one would truly read a paragraph. Well enough.But the McKellen/Dench is much more gripping, despite a minimalist set. Lines and characters were omitted for the sake of an overall vision. Characters stopped dead in mid-paragraph for effect. I'll never remember who Ross was in the Brett; I'll remember Ross/Porter in the McKellen. No spoiler here, but in the two versions one sees radically different Lady Macbeths -- not merely in execution but in conception. The Dench Macbeth being absolutely thrilling.This Brett/Laurie, however, tracks Shakespeare. So the high school student should begin here. Then move on to the McKellen/Dench.
peacham Not only is this the worst interpretation ( OR LACK THEREOF ) of Shakespeare's classic , it also includes one of the worst performances by a great actor ever witnessed. The brilliant Jeremy Brett is so over the top its laughable. not since peter o'toole's henry higgin's has there been such a loud bellowing performance so devoid of human emotion. Piper Laurie is also awful as his Lady. it seems the production was put up in a matter of days for a "take the money and run.' pay check. UNINSPIRED WITH NO VISION IS THE BOTTOM LINE.