Macbeth (1948)

Director:

Orson Welles

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)
(more)

Release Date:

23 June 1950 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Entertainment Greatness . . . That Only Motion Picture Magic Can Bring !

Plot:

In fog-dripping, barren and sometimes macabre settings, 11th-century Scottish nobleman Macbeth is led...

Plot Keywords:

Wife | Scottish | Prophecy | King | Prophet

Cast

Orson Welles	...	Macbeth
Jeanette Nolan	...	Lady Macbeth
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Macduff
Roddy McDowall	...	Malcolm
Edgar Barrier	...	Banquo
Alan Napier	...	A Holy Father
Erskine Sanford	...	Duncan
John Dierkes	...	Ross
Keene Curtis	...	Lennox
Peggy Webber	...	Lady Macduff / The Three
Lionel Braham	...	Siward
Archie Heugly	...	Young Siward
Jerry Farber	...	Fleance
Christopher Welles	...	Macduff Child
Morgan Farley	...	Doctor
Lurene Tuttle	...	Gentlewoman / The Three
Brainerd Duffield	...	First Murderer / The Three
William Alland	...	Second Murderer
George Chirello	...	Seyton
Gus Schilling	...	A Porter

Directed by
Orson Welles

Writing credits
William Shakespeare		(play)
Orson Welles		(adaptation) uncredited

Produced by
Orson Welles	....	producer
Richard Wilson	....	associate producer
Charles K. Feldman	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Jacques Ibert

Cinematography by
John L. Russell		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Louis Lindsay

Art Direction by
Fred A. Ritter		(as Fred Ritter)

Set Decoration by
John McCarthy Jr.
James Redd

Costume Design by
Adele Palmer		(costumes: women)
Fred Ritter		(costumes: men) (uncredited)
Orson Welles		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Peggy Gray	....	hair stylist
Bob Mark	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Lacey	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Dan O'Herlihy	....	set designer (uncredited)
Orson Welles	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Garry A. Harris	....	sound (as Garry Harris)
John Stransky Jr.	....	sound

Special Effects by
Howard Lydecker	....	special effects
Theodore Lydecker	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
William Bradford	....	photography: second unit
Nels Mathias	....	grip (uncredited)

Music Department
Efrem Kurtz	....	conductor

Other crew
William Alland	....	dialogue director
Charles K. Feldman	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Mercury Productions

Distributors

• Republic Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• Image Entertainment (1993) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Chapel Distribution (2009) (Australia) (theatrical) (16mm print)
• Filmes Castello Lopes (????) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Les Films Fernand Rivers (1950) (France) (theatrical)
• Monopolfilm (????) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Republic Pictures (????) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• Republic Pictures (????) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Art Haus (????) (Germany) (VHS)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Ermitage Cinema (2003) (Italy) (DVD) (cut) (dubbed)
• Flashstar Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Les Éditions du 7ème Art (1997) (France) (VHS)
• Pantmedia (????) (Italy) (VHS)
• Punto Zero (2008) (Italy) (DVD) (as Enjoy Movies)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• World Wide Pictures Home Video (2006) (France) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Consolidated Film Industries (CFI)

Runtime:

89 min (cut version) | Germany:92 min | USA:107 min (premiere version) | USA:107 min (restored video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Belgium:16 (Enfants Non Admis) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Mercury Productions

Trivia:

The dialog was pre-recorded, leaving the actors to mime their lines.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Duncan and his men renew their baptismal vows with a prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1884.

Quotes:

[first lines]
The Three Witches: Double,double,toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Back to School (1986)

Now Macbeth..? So many to choose from...

I had bought two versions of Macbeth (Roman Polanski's and Orson's )after successfully toiling with the Arden texts for a couple of weeks, I had pictured in my mind's eye what what might be an adequate visual interpretation of the ambitious king and nagging wife etc... However 'interpretation' is the key to viewing any filmed Shakespeare, For a start on the Imbd there are easily over 20 versions, and with 'Orson Welles MacBeth' an 'interpretation' is certainly what you get.

The radical physical setting of this screen version (amongst random ragged rocks in the 'Highlands') indeed evokes a sense of a rustic kingdom in early Y1K, lit by burning broom and men toiling and dying at every available nook and cranny in the rock. Typically, the actors (particularly Welles) address the rhetoric with the Scotch accent which has never been indigenously heard in Scotland (think of Disney's 'Scrooge McDuck' or The Terrier 'Mac' in 'Lady and the Tramp'). Oral issues aside, MacBeth, after slaying Duncan, patrols his new house with a sort of upside down stool on his head with the legs sharpened to a point, and issues decrees from a throne in a type of indoor tent. One point about the play in general is the fact that he murders at least 4 people and only one of their spirits can be bothered to haunt the obsessed tyrant (Banquo visits mid Banquet)?

When you see this version of MacBeth, bear in mind Welles' brave and original touch to the highly worked text. The atmosphere is unique, rich with darkness and a kind of fear. Settings are perfectly lit for their purpose, and reliably Welles is always the man capable for for the titular role.

I had intended to return at least one of the videos, I think I will keep both, just to remind me how good each of them are.

(Incidently, I am writing from the town in the north of Scotland where Duncans Castle is located in the text : How far is it called to FORRES?, On old maps of the town there was a site 'ruin of Duncan's castle' now known as 'Castle Hill' was this the place where Macbeth strutted with the stool on his head?)