Macbeth
1954: George Shaefer

A made-for-television classic from the early years, starring two legendary Shakespeareans, Maurice Evans and Judith Anderson. It’s a scratchy and flickery reproduction of a black and white film, with a noisy soundtrack, but what there is forms a welcome addition to the lineup. The leads, of course, were well-known, and justifiably so, though on some modern standards their performances seem a bit over the top. Lady Macbeth’s speech asking to be filled with cruelty, etc., is rather overdone, I think; she also seems a little on the old side for Lady Macbeth, though there is no logical upper limit to her age. Her later appearances as she descends into madness are, however, quite arresting.

Evans as Macbeth is compellingly plausible throughout, I think, and his management of the lines is generally thoughtful and nuanced. The decision to put the second visitation to the witches into a dream of Macbeth’s is something that makes me a little uneasy — I’m generally skeptical of trying to rationalize the supernatural element of these plays — but here I think it works.

There are also some minor roles that are substantial and worthy of attention. Duncan in particular is well-played. The drunken porter (J. Pat O’Malley, known to audiences probably more for his voicing of various parts in animated Disney films than for any live-action appearances) plays his single scene as well as I have seen. While all of these performances attest, to some extent, the aesthetics of another day, most of them are worth seeing, and we can be very grateful not to have lost them.

The film clocks in at just under an hour and three quarters; it’s not by any means complete, therefore. It is more capacious than the Paul Almond version with Sean Connery (1961), though, and it has most of the scenes represented in the proper order. Nevertheless, those scenes are fairly substantially pared back. One is grateful for what one can get — but look to another version for a more complete handling of the text of the play.

The DVD on which the current release appears also contains some remarkable footage of George Bernard Shaw, discussing the difference of his plays with Shakespeare’s, focusing most particularly on the character of Julius Caesar. I personally don’t agree with him, but seeing Shaw speaking, together with some footage of an early production of Julius Caesar, is worth attention.

Buy Macbeth from Amazon.