re: Welles - what I really would have loved to have seen is his stage production, the "Voodoo Macbeth" he directed at age 20 as part of the New Deal theatre project. It sets the whole story in Haiti, and young OW used exclusively black actors from Harlem. The movie, made much later, has its moments, but it never spoke to me as other Welles films (including his other Shakespeare adaptions) did.
Polanski: what stays with me - the sheer nihilism, which still doesn't feel dreary, as bleak productions otherwise often do. History is a vicious inescepable fast paced cycle here. Most prominently expressed by what Polanski and Kenneth Tynan did with Ross, who is the first to hail Macbeth as King, becomes the Third Murderer in this version, as well as organizing the slaughter of the Macduffs, switches sides both because it's apparant Macbeth is losing it on an increasingly rapid scale and because Macbeth makes Seyton instead of him Thane of Cawdor, and then ends up as athe one presenting the crown to Malcolm, while Donalbain is already seeking out the witches in the film's final image.
Also the age of the actors playing the Macbeths: both Jon Finch and Francesca Annis were under 30 at the time. Most other production I've seen casts the Macbeths with middle aged actors at their prime, and some go for a young Lady M and an old M, but two young Ms is to my knowledge unique to the Polanski movie. It makes for a somewhat different dynamic and vibe. (I would say I'm not sure it works with the text and Macbeth as an experienced warrior, but actually, given medieval warriors started to fight at age 14 and 15...)
The bear-baiting: the image is in the text, but Polanski lets an actual bear-baiting happen early on as part of the entertainment for Duncan at Macbeth's castle, and that Duncan et al are delighted underscores there aren't any good characters in this story (other than Lady Macduff and her kids) to a modern viewer, much as I know bear-baiting was a popular Elizabethan entertainment in competition with the theatre.
I also remember that the scene you mentioned in your entry, where the Macbeths insist that Banquo comes to the dinner is staged in a way that the whole "guest of honor" lines are addressed to little Fleance in a "fond teasing" manner (which doubles as creepy because the audience knows Macbeth has already planned Banquo's and the kid's deaths).
Given today's standards of goriness, what was shocking in the late 60s and early 70s probably would come across less so today, but maybe not - I saw the film at school and haven't seen it since, so I don't know whether I would still be horrified. At the time of production, this certainly was the bloodiest Macbeth in the literal sense as well, with Polanski famously replying to Tynan's "maybe too much blood?" with “You didn’t see my house last summer. I know about bleeding.” "Last summer" being when Sharon Tate was killed. He's always denied the Macbeth/Manson connection, but given it was his first project post-Manson murders and the way the killing of the Macduffs is staged, I don't blame the critics for still reading the movie as a personal exorcism.
ETA: googling gave me this review, which says what I tried to somewhat better.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2018-01-04 10:48 am (UTC)re: Welles - what I really would have loved to have seen is his stage production, the "Voodoo Macbeth" he directed at age 20 as part of the New Deal theatre project. It sets the whole story in Haiti, and young OW used exclusively black actors from Harlem. The movie, made much later, has its moments, but it never spoke to me as other Welles films (including his other Shakespeare adaptions) did.
Polanski: what stays with me - the sheer nihilism, which still doesn't feel dreary, as bleak productions otherwise often do. History is a vicious inescepable fast paced cycle here. Most prominently expressed by what Polanski and Kenneth Tynan did with Ross, who is the first to hail Macbeth as King, becomes the Third Murderer in this version, as well as organizing the slaughter of the Macduffs, switches sides both because it's apparant Macbeth is losing it on an increasingly rapid scale and because Macbeth makes Seyton instead of him Thane of Cawdor, and then ends up as athe one presenting the crown to Malcolm, while Donalbain is already seeking out the witches in the film's final image.
Also the age of the actors playing the Macbeths: both Jon Finch and Francesca Annis were under 30 at the time. Most other production I've seen casts the Macbeths with middle aged actors at their prime, and some go for a young Lady M and an old M, but two young Ms is to my knowledge unique to the Polanski movie. It makes for a somewhat different dynamic and vibe. (I would say I'm not sure it works with the text and Macbeth as an experienced warrior, but actually, given medieval warriors started to fight at age 14 and 15...)
The bear-baiting: the image is in the text, but Polanski lets an actual bear-baiting happen early on as part of the entertainment for Duncan at Macbeth's castle, and that Duncan et al are delighted underscores there aren't any good characters in this story (other than Lady Macduff and her kids) to a modern viewer, much as I know bear-baiting was a popular Elizabethan entertainment in competition with the theatre.
I also remember that the scene you mentioned in your entry, where the Macbeths insist that Banquo comes to the dinner is staged in a way that the whole "guest of honor" lines are addressed to little Fleance in a "fond teasing" manner (which doubles as creepy because the audience knows Macbeth has already planned Banquo's and the kid's deaths).
Given today's standards of goriness, what was shocking in the late 60s and early 70s probably would come across less so today, but maybe not - I saw the film at school and haven't seen it since, so I don't know whether I would still be horrified. At the time of production, this certainly was the bloodiest Macbeth in the literal sense as well, with Polanski famously replying to Tynan's "maybe too much blood?" with “You didn’t see my house last summer. I know about bleeding.” "Last summer" being when Sharon Tate was killed. He's always denied the Macbeth/Manson connection, but given it was his first project post-Manson murders and the way the killing of the Macduffs is staged, I don't blame the critics for still reading the movie as a personal exorcism.
ETA: googling gave me this review, which says what I tried to somewhat better.