Tue 27 Dec 2011
Reviewed by Dan Stumpf: MACBETH (1948).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews[5] Comments
MACBETH. Republic Pictures, 1948. Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O’Herlihy, Roddy McDowall, Edgar Barrier, Peggy Webber. Adapted by Orson Welles (uncredited) from the play by William Shakespeare. Director: Orson Welles.
On most occasions I need only the flimsiest of excuses to speak of Welles’ 1948 film of Macbeth, which he did for peanuts on the back lots at Republic Studios.
Like most of his films, it was badly mauled before release, including completely new dubbing and the excision of about 20 minutes running time. It is now, however, restored and available on videotape, and you should run out and get it.
Someone — me, I think — once said that every hardboiled novel and film noir owes a debt to Shakespeare. Welles seems to have sensed this, turning Macbeth into a very noirish-looking film indeed, with lots of shadows and heavy fog to hide the cheap sets, vaguely menacing blackmailers and detective-types, and a Lady Macbeth (Jeanette Nolan) straight out of James M. Cain.
Edgar Barrier, normally a rather inexpressive actor, offers a fascinating interpretation of Banquo as co-conspirator, and Dan O’Herlihy makes a tough MacDuff. Welles naturally has a lot of fun with himself as Macbeth, lurching about drunk most of the time, and he has the whole cast speak in beautifully thick Scottish Brogue, so that “Sleep no more, Macbeth has murdered Sleep” comes out: “Slyeep nae Mairlrlrl, MaycBayth hae Mairlrlrlredairlrlrlred Slyeep!”
A bit hard to follow in the denser passages, but fun to listen to.
December 28th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
A few thought re Republic and Orson Welles.
Obviously Republic’s daily bread manifested itself in the production of second feature’s. Usually quite well done within their context. But, beyond that they had Raoul Walsh, John Ford, Fritz Lang, Nicholas Ray Allan Dwan directing. And, while neither Cary Grant or Clark Gable reported for work, John Wayne, Joan Crawford, Joan Leslie, Louis Hayward, Sterling Hayden, Fred MacMurray, and an array of other successful, talented people. You could argue Ford and Wayne did some of their best work under that studio’s aegis.
As for Welles, he was unemployable, no matter how I like him, or you do. As an actor, yes, as a filmmaker, no. This was his last gasp at a conventionally funded film. That they probably allocated a budget just a little north of a Rocky Lane western, doesn’t mean the studio was cheap or inept in any way.
About Macbeth. Fun in its peculiar way. But, very few play dates. And, no one came.
December 28th, 2011 at 2:27 pm
I like the idea that the concept that both hardboiled fiction and film noir owes a lot to Shakespeare.
I guess I’ve never quite put two and two together before, but as I’ve been thinking it over, it’s beginning to make a lot of sense to me.
December 28th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Steve in Comment #2 mentions how “…film noir owes a lot to Shakespeare”. I was reminded of this recently when TCM ran the British movie JOE MACBETH(1955), starring Paul Douglas as Macbeth, a gangster, and his cold blooded wife Lady Macbeth, played by Ruth Roman.
It’s discussed in Keaney’s BRITISH FILM NOIR GUIDE as an updated version of Shakespeare’s MACBETH. He mentions “…its fascinating, if oddball, quality”. Not officially released on dvd but its available on the bootleg market.
December 29th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Doesn’t the still look like the bridge of a Klingon ship?
December 30th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
Yes!