A Performance of Macbeth

This is about as spare a production of a Shakespeare play as you are likely to get. It is really more of a reading of the play than a performance. It is listed as being in color, but the colors are so muted that I had to check that my TV was not broken, since it looked pretty much like black and white to me.

Anyone coming to this production cold is going to be quite confused and will most likely abandon the effort.

The acting is stagy - you might say that this film sets the standard for the definition of that word. This will definitely not be for all tastes. As good an actor as McKellen is I could never connect with him in this performance, though he does do a great job on some of the soliloquies, particularly the one ending with "it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing." I was much more engaged by McKellen during his talks about the performance on the DVD extras than I was by his performance in the film. Dench's Lady Macbeth was too shrill for me.

There are some interesting innovations, like "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble," being sung as a Gregorian Chant throughout most of Act IV, Scene 1. Other scenes did not work as well for me, such as the opening shot where the camera pans around the circle of actors. Having some text describing the characters that the actors were portraying would have been helpful, but I saw little significance to this as it is. And the loud organ music I found distracting and inconsistent with the production.

There are some casting problems. Roger Rees as Malcomb, dressed in his knit turtleneck sweater, looks more like he just came out of a fraternity party than being the leader of a large army.

Purists will hurl stones at me for saying it, but I much prefer Polanski's cinematic. "The Tragedy of Macbeth."

McKellen is quoted as saying that this is Shakespeare on the cheap. I think that the statement "You get what you pay for," might apply here.

Ian MacKellen is quite possibly the greatest Macbeth ever to appear on film. He is absolutely brilliant in this record of the RSC's Other Place production, which chops up the text and does magical things with it. He knows when to use the verse Shakespeare gave him, and what to do with it. Perfectly complementing him is Judi Dench (great in the sleepwalking scene), a small and fragile she-devil. John Woodvine is a majestical Banquo - you truly believe he is the head of a long line of kings - while Ian MacDiarmid is a memorable Porter/Ross. Roger Rees is good value as Malcolm (despite the awful pullover), and Bob Peck is a calm Macduff, only stirred into action by his personal tragedy.

We can get under the skin of these characters, we believe in them. Although this is sourced from a stage production, it uses film to a great advantage and adds layers of atmosphere in its simple and effective setting. Highly recommended.

Dame Judi and Sir Ian McKellen are unforgettable in their roles as MacBeth and Lady Macbeth. It is the best version and I plan to show this film to high school students in the future. It is amazing at how little props can mean and scenery. The actors have chewed it up to focus on the tragedy of Macbeth. Also performing is TV Cheers actor, Roger Rees in one of the supporting roles. Griffith Jones who is still kicking in his 90s plays the old King Duncan. This low budget version was first shown on British television which caused Dame Judi Dench to stop watching herself on television because she would only criticize herself for not being good enough. I don't know what that means to an accomplished actress like Dame Judi Dench. How good do you have to be to remembered in the same category as Dame Peggy Ashcroft, her mentor, Damme Ellen Terry, and Sarah Siddons?

Mckellen's use of tone shift and facial expressions are the reasons he is such a renowned actor. This elite acting paired with such great directing makes for a thrilling movie. It is exemplified in the dagger scene using shadows and the dagger along with the close up into a slow pan to show McKellan's contemplativeness. Overall a great film and a great watch for fans of Shakespeare or Mckellen.

This is probably "Macbeth" as Shakespeare really saw it produced -- no fancy scenery, no elaborate sets, just stunning actors conveying everything Shakespeare intended to convey by the power of their own speech and actions.

The defining moment for me is the banquet scene, where McKellan manages to go from icily cynical schemer to stark raving maniac on seeing Banquo's ghost, and then back again to schemer and then yet back again to broken, frightened shadow of a man by the end of the scene, without for a moment over-acting and without us, the viewer, even seeing Banquo's ghost.

The only false note I think the production had was Judi Dench -- as others have said here, she is of course a splendid actress and her sleepwalking scene was wonderful. But part of what drives Macbeth in the play is Lady Macbeth's threat to withhold sexual favors and her denigration of his masculinity if Macbeth doesn't act more "like a man" and go through with the murder of Duncan (conveyed in this version by her avoiding Macbeth's attempted kiss in the "milk of human kindness" scene), and frankly in this production Dame Judi lacked the sex appeal that would make this viable.

Still, a bravura performance and certainly the best Macbeth I have seen filmed.