Shakespeare's Macbeth Films - Welles - Polanski - Kurosawa - Kurzel - Paul Duncan

[@bonzodog6872]

It must have taken you ages to put all this together. much appreciated I learnt a lot. thanks for posting.

[@wordsmithpd]

My pleasure. I have edited a lot of film books, so luckily I had a plethora of material to choose from.

[@luissalas177]

Throne of Blood is special

[@mikemonty92]

I fucking loved michael fassbender as macbeth they made it modern yet stayed true to the source material

[@wordsmithpd]

The great thing about Macbeth, as with many of Shakespeare's plays, is that it is open to reinterpretation - and can always be used as an allegory for whoever is in power.

[@MrJeremyWeeks]

Thanks for this, I knew nothing of the Voodoo Macbeth! I love the Polanski and Kurosawa versions best.

[@fnord4960]

My favorite would have to be Polanski's adaptation of Macbeth. I especially love Jon Finch's performance of Macbeth.

[@professorpyg505]

Anyone here after Cohen's film?

[@sha11235]

Actually, in the Polanski version, the ending has Donalbain returning from Ireland and he happens to pass by the same heath from before and he hears the witches and goes to see what that noise is. What probably happens next is that he will get prophecies from them about being King, just like Macbeth did and will try to seek the crown by killing his brother. We'll never know, of course, but Polanski wanted to show the violent cycle never ending vs. Shakespeare's original chaos/order world.

[@lysanderofsparta3708]

Polanski's interpretation was influenced by Jan Kott.

[@sha11235]

There's a little bit of foreshadowing with Donalbain at the end of the film in the scene where Malcolm is named Prince of Cumberland. We see the look on his face and he doesn't seem pleased about it.

[@yasmineclaire5299]

Thank you for this fantastic resource.

[@wordsmithpd]

Glad it was helpful!

[@k2024-b8n]

you have done a very fine job here to introduce youngsters into this. I hope that quite a few will watch your film to wet their appetites...

[@wordsmithpd]

Thank you. It has proved quite popular, and there is even an educational site linking to the video, so I am pleased it is of interest.

[@stephenkeen5737]

Thanks for that summary. I'm working my way through the films. 😊

[@wordsmithpd]

Glad it was helpful!

[@stephenkeen5737]

@@wordsmithpd watched all 4 of these in a week. Back to rewatch your summary. Excellently explained. It's hard to choose a favourite. They're all good in different ways.

[@wordsmithpd]

@@stephenkeen5737 Exactly, which is why I thought it interesting to make a video. It's a universal story that resonates through the ages.

[@lysanderofsparta3708]

I don't know if Polanski's version is the best (I think Francesca Annis is badly miscast as Lady Macbeth), but it is certainly the easiest to understand and probably speaks most powerfully to a contemporary audience. The scuttled ending owes more to Jan Kott, who reinterpreted Shakespeare's plays through the modernist prism of Samuel Beckett. Peter Brook's "King Lear" is a Jan Kott interpretation of the play, which reimagines "Lear" as a variation on Beckett's "Endgame". Polanski's Macbeth and Banquo encountering the witches on the heath might be Beckett's Vladimir and Estragon wandering a country road. In my opinion, "Throne of Blood" has the most impressive Lady Macbeth and Birnham Wood scene. On the other hand, Polanski's set piece of the prophecy glimpsed in the witches' cauldron is the best scene of any "Macbeth" movie.

[@onepiecefan74]

Macbeth has had really good adaptations. The Orson Welles version has to be my favorite as it combines 40s horror movies with Shakespeare (two of my favorite things ever).

[@wordsmithpd]

Thanks for the comment. Can't go wrong with Orson. Check out Chimes at Midnight - his adaptation of the Falstaff stories - probably Welles' best movie IMHO.

[@onepiecefan74]

Welles is one of my very favorites. Love Chimes at Midnight. His 3 Shakespeare films and The Trial are probably all in my top 50 films

[@anitchlikadze3451]

And the Scottish English❤️

[@kirisuta8496]

This was so helpful for my dissertation. Cheers mate 👍🏻

[@wordsmithpd]

No problem. Glad to be of service.

[@hutch13pbbc]

love Welles, love Polanski. But Throne of Blood is beyond epic. But do not forget SCOTLAND PA (2001, dir. BIlly Morrisette; Maura Tierney as a great Lady MacBeth with James LeGros and Christopher Walken)

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

i'ma kurosawa weeabo fanboi but...man polanski's version is FANTASTIC.

[@kevinmorrice]

the fact you used the term "weeabo fanboi" is just wrong, takeshi miike is when you would be a weeabo fanboi, but with kurosawa you are an admirer, or a cinemaphile

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

@@kevinmorrice chill kevin.

[@andream5310]

Polanski's version is brilliant, but Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" is the best Macbeth movie out there

[@sameerhafeez7029]

@@kevinmorrice I 100% agree with you

[@sameerhafeez7029]

@@Toshiro_Mifune dude return to your grave

[@CarloNassar]

Maybe I'll make one in the future starring someone like Ben Kingsley as Macbeth. And I hate to say it but I also might consider working with Disney because of The Lion King, which is inspired by Hamlet. Also Shakespeare.

[@joesSONICBOOM]

Polanski's version has always been the best for me, the atmosphere, the dark violent tone and the acting as so amazing. I do like the Welles version as well but I need to see the Throne of Blood version and the 2015 version. However, avoid the 2006 version simply because setting a Shakespeare play in modern times just doesn't work.

[@wordsmithpd]

Thanks for the warning - I have not seen the 2006 version, but if I happen across it, my expectations will be lowered. As you can see from my piece, I think you can feel my bias in favour of the Polanski version. It's an intelligent, faultless production, I think.

[@joesSONICBOOM]

​@@wordsmithpd Absolutely :) I would say there is another one of Macbeth that I also like, this time it is animated which is with BBC series of Shakespeare: The Animated Tales. The episode of Macbeth is on KZbin for you to watch and it is surprisingly gruesome for its target audience being kids with it's U rating on my VHS tape. I do find the acting and the animation to be very good for a TV production especially since this is a UK/Rusian collaboration. Here's the link to the video kzbin.info/www/bejne/p5fRhqRolJV5hbs

[@wordsmithpd]

@@joesSONICBOOM Many thanks - I'll give it a go.

[@joesSONICBOOM]

@@wordsmithpd You're Welcome mate :)

[@Toshiro_Mifune]

oooh bro, though there is no comparison with polanski's version, throne of blood is very good. it's very much the same but yet so completely different. and as always mifune gives a stellar performance.

[@ShowalterdontlikeME]

"Untimely ripped from my mother's womb" - Sir you are a victim of Victorian meiosis - If Macduff was born by caesarean section - He would have been born by his mother's virgina - i.e. her "woman" - a polite way of saying the C word. - The C section explanation is a modern myth - He was delivered by his dead mothers stomach wall.

[@wordsmithpd]

Thanks for the clarification.

[@Robert...Schrey]

10:58 that‘s very smart, because , I think, Lady Macbeth was somehow pregnant.

[@anitchlikadze3451]

❤

[@zacharyhughes3053]

Macbeth 2015 was such a good adaptation.lit literally forced me to relive past life memories..can not remember the last movie that did that

[@zacharyhughes3053]

Yeah, our ancestors were alot tougher than we are today..because violence was a sport. Not unlike football or soccer...plus life was short anyways...yupper, yupper , chicken super! Short, violent lives...

[@cancan1234]

I think the best arrangement is Polanski’s film.

[@wordsmithpd]

That was my conclusion also.

[@lewis9434]

Excellent video! But you said that Lady Macbeth framed Malcolm, I'm pretty sure she put the blame on the two Chamberlains keeping guard. At least that's what happens in the play. Nonetheless, great work.

[@wordsmithpd]

Yes, you are correct, the blame is put directly on the two chamberlains keeping guard, who Macbeth then kills. Malcolm and Donalbain flee the scene, fearing for their lives, but later come under suspicion for the murder because they fled so suddenly - so it is this later suspicion to which I refer. The perils of trying to conflate such a complex play, and four films, in under 20 minutes...

[@tayabandrabi1651]

One of the best versions is Vishal Bhardvaj's Bollywood production of 'Maqbool'

[@wordsmithpd]

Thanks for this! I didn't have time to list, watch or cover all the versions-there are so many.

[@jackcooper3307]

Some misinformation here - first performed in 1606

[@wordsmithpd]

There is no concrete evidence for 1606 hence I said "around 1600."

[@jackcooper3307]

Wordsmith generally the first recorded performance is taken to be the year of composition in Shakespeare study, which is accepted to be 1606 for this particular play

[@stephenkeen5737]

@@jackcooper3307 yes. And performed/ composed with James 6 in mind, after Elizabeth I death in 1603.

[@adrian72300]

@@wordsmithpd IKR...geez Jack Cooper

[@garrison6863]

The Kurzel version is by far the worst. Not even worth talking about.

[@wordsmithpd]

Each to their own. I was attempting to show the differing approaches of each director.

[@stephenkeen5737]

Strongly disagree. Beautifully filmed and great performances. Polanski's is pretty good overall but sometimes the acting lacks passion and convincing.