IMDb > Macbeth (1948)
Macbeth
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Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   1,910 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Up 5% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Orson Welles

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)
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Contact:

View company contact information for Macbeth on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

23 June 1950 (France) more

Genre:

Drama more

Tagline:

Entertainment Greatness . . . That Only Motion Picture Magic Can Bring !

Plot:

In fog-dripping, barren and sometimes macabre settings, 11th-century Scottish nobleman Macbeth is led... more | add synopsis

Plot Keywords:

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User Comments:

Orson's Passion more (28 total)


Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Runtime:

89 min (cut version) | Germany:92 min | USA:107 min (premiere version) | USA:107 min (restored video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1 more

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Belgium:16 (Enfants Non Admis) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | West Germany:12


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

The dialog was pre-recorded, leaving the actors to mime their lines. more

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Duncan and his men renew their baptismal vows with a prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. more

Quotes:

[first lines]
The Three Witches: Double,double,toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
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Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Four Great Women and a Manicure (#20.20)" (2009) more


FAQ

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12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful.
Orson's Passion, 11 July 2006
9/10
Author: OttoVonB from Switzerland

Lord Macbeth encounters witches that foresee his ascension to power and finally to the throne. Driven on by this prophecy and his ambitious and manipulative wife, Macbeth plots, betrays and murders to become King. This is Shakespeare at his most bleak, pessimistic and chilling.

Orson Welles, a lover of Shakespeare from an early age, would make three attempts to bring the Bard to the screen. Each attempt has the same strengths (ambition, performance, Welles himself and visual genius) and weaknesses (a beggar's budget). Of these three attempts (the other two being Othello and Chimes at Midnight), Macbeth is the least handicapped by technical difficulties, even if is the weakest overall.

Welles used borrowed costumes and unusual locations (such as an abandoned mine) and shot them in a staggeringly surreal way that greatly enhances the overall quality. As an adaptation, his Macbeth is very faithful in spirit, and trimmings in the text serve only to make it more cinematic and compliant with limited resources. Never, to the star/director's credit, does this feel like a "small" film. Rather, it is inspirational, and traces of it's genius can be found in Kurosawa's version, "Throne of Blood", shot ten years later.

Essential viewing. Especially for those in Europe who have access to Wild Side's beautiful new transfer of the full 115 minute version.

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