Macbeth - The Kingslayer
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Macbeth - The Kingslayer |
| Original title | Macbeth |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Orson Welles |
| script | Orson Welles |
| production | Orson Welles, Charles K. Feldman , Richard Wilson for Republic Pictures |
| music | Jacques Ibert |
| camera | John L. Russell |
| cut | Louis Lindsay |
| occupation | |
| |
Macbeth is an American film adaptation based on William Shakespeare's drama Macbeth . Orson Welles has directed, written and played the leading role .
action
The plot largely follows the Shakespearean drama Macbeth .
background
Orson Welles planned a Shakespeare film adaptation from 1947 and initially wanted to adapt Othello , but found no financial support after the several flops under his direction. Therefore, he then turned to Macbeth , which he imagined in style as a "perfect cross between Sturmhöhe and Frankenstein's bride ". Together with Charles K. Feldman, Welles convinced Republic Pictures boss Herbert Yates to make the film. Republic Pictures was one of the Poverty Row studios in Hollywood that mostly only released B-movies - mostly westerns. With this Shakespeare adaptation, Yates planned to raise the artistic level of his studio. Herbert Yates was only able to give Welles $ 700,000 due to the limited capabilities of the studio, and Welles had to pay additional money from his own fortune. He had a total of 24 days for the filming, which took place on the premises of Republic Studios.
Welles took the title role and initially wanted to win Vivien Leigh for the role of Lady Macbeth, but the film budget did not allow such an expensive actress. Other candidates were Tallulah Bankhead , Anne Baxter , Mercedes McCambridge and Agnes Moorehead . But all of the actresses were either busy or refused. In the end, Welles hired a well-known theater actress, Jeanette Nolan, who made her film debut here. Welles and Nolan had worked together on radio a decade earlier. Welles also hired Irishman Dan O'Herlihy in his American feature film debut and former child star Roddy McDowall as Malcolm. The cast of Welles' daughter Christopher, who embodies Macduff's son in her only film role, can be understood as a curiosity.
Reviews
“Translated by Orson Welles into an abstract film with an almost experimental character. The intense theatrical effect is mainly due to the visual design, whereby the unusual costumes, the cardboard decorations and the expressive staging style are particularly fascinating. "
"It's one of the most idiosyncratic Shakespeare films: raw and ascetic, men in skins with bizarre helmets in paper-mache decorations."
Web links
- Macbeth - The regicide in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Review of the film at TV-Guide
- ↑ Macbeth's criticism of two thousand and one
- ^ Macbeth criticism in Prisma