Macbeth (1971-Polanski)

This is a fairly traditional version which looks very much like the production of Hamlet made a couple of years earlier.  Strangely enough, it was made by Playboy Productions-Hugh Hefner was one of the producers.  Despite that, it's not all that bad a production, but there's really nothing special about it either.  Most of the soliloquies are done as voiceovers, which makes sense but doesn't help them a whole lot.  There are a couple of moments added, most notably the murder of Duncan and one of Macbeth's nightmare's, in which a boy takes his crown and puts a sword to his throat-presumably a descendant of Banquo.  In the second witch scene, the stuff the witches are making (the "double, double, toil and trouble" part) is given to Macbeth, which he drinks.  This may explain the "prophecies" which follow, in a scene which actually does seem like a drug trip, especially the series of Banquo's descendants who all hold up a mirror to show the next one.  Also, in this version the ghost of Banquo at the feast is shown bloodily with a soundtrack of dissonant screeching, as opposed to unquestionably being a figment of Macbeth's imagination.  The guy who plays Macbeth is very nervous-his reactions to Banquo's ghost and to Lady Macbeth's initial suggestion to kill Duncan are priceless, and his eyes never stop moving.  This is opposed to Lady Macbeth, who is always calm and resolved.  This is until the second set of prophecies, when they switch.  The shot of Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane is pretty damn cool.  There's a lot of violence, especially in the destruction of Macduff's castle and the end battle, which goes on and on and on.

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