Duel Scene from Macbeth

Originally, this brief footage of a scene from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" was apparently planned to become part of a longer feature that collected a number of examples of combat from different eras. On its own, it's still interesting in a couple of respects.

In just over a minute of running time, the footage shows Macbeth's brief confrontation with Young Siward, and then the climactic fight with Macduff. No inter-titles survive, because it was originally designed to be shown with a narrator reading a prepared text to go with the scene.

But you could actually make a pretty good guess, just from the footage itself, as to what it represents. The dress of the characters clearly makes them Scotsmen, and the Macbeth and Macduff characters are obviously bitter rivals. You can also easily identify Macbeth as the haughty king and Macduff as the indignant challenger, just from their manner.

The background is the type of painted stage background that was quite common at the time, but Billy Bitzer's photography catches both foreground and background clearly, helping to make it a relatively good representation of the scene given the resources available at the time.

It's all guys in the small kilt and tams with feathers..... and swords, of course, to stab each other over the course of a bit less than a minute.

No one had the resources or interest in making a full version of the Scottish PlY at this point, but people could offer bits and pieces. It certainly makes a lot more sense to offer an action scene than one in which Shakespeare's words were recited. At this point, titles were not even established as being largely for dialogue. They were akin to chapter titles, in which you were given a brief summation of what you were about to see, and then the actors performed.

The advantage of this one is that, first, it's Shakespeare, so you don't need a title. You're presumed to know it,mans even if you don't, will pretend to, and second, it's guys stabbing each other. What's to explain?