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Editorial Reviews
Following a London West End run in December 2007, a sold-out limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in March 2008, and a subsequent eight-week run on Broadway, director Rupert Goold s gripping stage production of Macbeth starring Patrick Stewart in a triumphant, Tony-nominated performance will be filmed for television in a co-production agreement between WNET.ORG and Illuminations Television, in association with the BBC. Shot in High Definition on UK locations, Goold will maintain the atmosphere and tone of the critically acclaimed stage production.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
136 of 142 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I just finished watching Rupert Goold's film of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood. As mentioned in the last post, I saw this production on Broadway and was eagerly awaiting the film version. Now I've seen a lot of great film Macbeths, including the Ian McKellen/Judi Dench version, the RSC film with Antony Sher, and Roman Polanski's. This film is the best Macbeth that you will ever see. In fact, scenes that I didn't find very effective on stage (Lady Macbeth's mad scene and and the long scene between Malcolm and Macduff) were very powerful in the movie. Patrick Stewart's performance is definitive. You can see every thought that passes through his mind. Kate Fleetwood's Lady Macbeth charted her fall into insanity with such clarity that when Macbeth is told that she has died, it's no surprise to him or the audience. You see that there was no other end to her story. The Weird Sisters, here played as Nurses who have gone over to the dark side, are truly frightening. There is no weak link in this cast, the directing is thrillingly original, and the production design is stunning. It easily could have been shown in movie theaters. This Macbeth is set during the Cold War of the 1950's, and doesn't shy away from the shocking violence of a dictatorship. Characters are brutally executed, and the murder of Lady Macduff and her children is greatly disturbing, even though you see almost nothing happen. And to top it all off, Rupert Goold has the film end with the camera panning from location to location throughout the castle (the dining room, the kitchen, the Weird Sisters' morgue) and then closes with a shot of Macbeth and his Lady in the elevator, hand in hand. So we end with the idea that Macbeth's castle isn't just drenched in blood. Now it's haunted.
64 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is the best version of this play you will ever see. Patrick Stewart has grabbed the crown. I have seen Macbeth numerous times and because I know it by heart I expected little in the way of anything new. I was wrong. This version is outright spooky, scary, and unsettling. There are shocking touches such as one of the witches pulling out a war wounded soldier's heart. You may never trust a "night nurse" again. The unbelievable intensity of Lady Macbeth will screw you to your seat and give you nightmares. Her sleepwalking moments will take your breath away and make you squirm. New, fresh, dynamic and awesome. I was wondering how this production would pull off the "porter" scene. It was raw and disgusting - just the right touch for this adaptation. No comic relief here, unless you are a psycho. All of the other Machbeth's may go home now. You are no longer needed.
47 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
*
Shakespeare Most Amazing...
Firstly, let's understand something: this is cinema art--a motion picture, not a filmed stage performance. Therefore the director (Rupert Goold), cinematographer, set designers et alii are enabled to make brilliant choices concerning the visuals, sound, lighting, and other stunning effects.
There have been many wonderful film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays (since Olivier's 1948 Hamlet).
Personal favourites include Olivier's 1955 Richard III, Olivier's 1965 Othello, Peter Hall's 1968 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Polanski's 1971 Macbeth, Branagh's 1989 Henry V, Greenaway's 1991 Prospero's Books [The Tempest], Richard Loncraine's 1995 Richard III, Branagh's 1996 Hamlet, Julie Taymor's 1999 Titus [Titus Andronicus], Michael Radford's 2004 Merchant of Venice, and Gregory Doran's 2009 Hamlet.
Here Rupert Goold's Macbeth is the summum bonum of all its predecessors.
Goold has taken all the best ideas from the aforementioned film adaptations, added all the latest technical innovations, combined the most brilliant original ideas, and synthesized all into a visually stunning and dramatically devastating presentation of Shakespeare's poetry: it is simply an unnatural wonder of song and Schein (as Wilde and Nietzsche would each term it).
The acting and elocution are fabulous: Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood deserve all theatrical appreciation.
Moreover, the execution of the tragedy is utterly remarkable: Goold and company employ concepts of 1930's totalitarianism and militarism (cf. Loncraine's Richard III) with Greenaway's grotesque details (cf. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover) and the creepiness of Alan Parker's Angel Heart, together with the suffocating CCTV effects of Doran's Hamlet and Branagh's Sleuth, and the gritty combat scenarios of Zak Snyder's 300, plus the bunker atmosphere of Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall, resulting in an incomparable presentation and setting for Shakespeare's logos.
(The only thing we're missing is Greenaway's extravagant nudity...)
Oh--and let us not forget the c r a z y twisted Weird Sisters: must be seen to be believed!
*
Richard III
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Henry V
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Hamlet
Angel Heart
Downfall
300
*
EDIT Nov. 2010: Julie Taymor has just issued a new film version of The Tempest: The Tempest;
see too Ralph Finnes's Coriolanus.
*
Shakespeare Most Amazing...
Firstly, let's understand something: this is cinema art--a motion picture, not a filmed stage performance. Therefore the director (Rupert Goold), cinematographer, set designers et alii are enabled to make brilliant choices concerning the visuals, sound, lighting, and other stunning effects.
There have been many wonderful film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays (since Olivier's 1948 Hamlet).
Personal favourites include Olivier's 1955 Richard III, Olivier's 1965 Othello, Peter Hall's 1968 A Midsummer Night's Dream, Polanski's 1971 Macbeth, Branagh's 1989 Henry V, Greenaway's 1991 Prospero's Books [The Tempest], Richard Loncraine's 1995 Richard III, Branagh's 1996 Hamlet, Julie Taymor's 1999 Titus [Titus Andronicus], Michael Radford's 2004 Merchant of Venice, and Gregory Doran's 2009 Hamlet.
Here Rupert Goold's Macbeth is the summum bonum of all its predecessors.
Goold has taken all the best ideas from the aforementioned film adaptations, added all the latest technical innovations, combined the most brilliant original ideas, and synthesized all into a visually stunning and dramatically devastating presentation of Shakespeare's poetry: it is simply an unnatural wonder of song and Schein (as Wilde and Nietzsche would each term it).
The acting and elocution are fabulous: Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood deserve all theatrical appreciation.
Moreover, the execution of the tragedy is utterly remarkable: Goold and company employ concepts of 1930's totalitarianism and militarism (cf. Loncraine's Richard III) with Greenaway's grotesque details (cf. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover) and the creepiness of Alan Parker's Angel Heart, together with the suffocating CCTV effects of Doran's Hamlet and Branagh's Sleuth, and the gritty combat scenarios of Zak Snyder's 300, plus the bunker atmosphere of Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall, resulting in an incomparable presentation and setting for Shakespeare's logos.
(The only thing we're missing is Greenaway's extravagant nudity...)
Oh--and let us not forget the c r a z y twisted Weird Sisters: must be seen to be believed!
*
Richard III
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Henry V
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
Hamlet
Angel Heart
Downfall
300
*
EDIT Nov. 2010: Julie Taymor has just issued a new film version of The Tempest: The Tempest;
see too Ralph Finnes's Coriolanus.
*
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well, it was great until Amazon lost the rights to show it.
I was showing a class the piece when I discovered it was no longer going to be available after a certain number of days--so much for class planning and discussion. Read more
Published 6 days ago by Niamh
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favorite
This was my students favorite version of the play. I allowed them to compare the various versions and was surprised at the results. It was nicely done.
Published 22 days ago by Pascal Bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just what I wanted
Thank you very much for the DVD. Macbeth is a great play to watch and learn from, I love it.
Published 24 days ago by Jerry Guthrie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing
A totally new view of one of Shakespeare's finest plays. Beautifully acted and filmed. Not one to watch with the kids, but my teenage grandson really appreciated it.
Published 1 month ago by Dorothy M. Wright
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best
This is one of the best performances of Shakespeare - screen or stage, traditional or modern - ever! Incredibly disturbing and dark. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tristan Doyle
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classroom Use
I bought this for use in a 12th Grade inner-city English class. We had access to the Ian McKellar version, but after finding this version on PBS. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Brian J. Tufts
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just how it looks
I'm a big fan of Patrick Stewart . He did a fine job acting and the play was Shakespeare's. Set in a modern war time like World war 2. Read more
Published 2 months ago by E. Lloyd Cox
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gread adaptation of Macbeth
I used this film in my 12th grade English class after reading the play, so everyone was familiar with the story and had a mental picture of the characters. Read more
Published 2 months ago by claudia Patrick
4.0 out of 5 stars
I'm nitpicking but it's not the greatest version of Macbeth ~
If you want to view what I consider the most amazing (though sparsely set) Macbeth, check out an amazing Judy Dench and Ian McKellen version: Macbeth / McKellen, Dench (Thames... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Christopher Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Such a fair and foul Macbeth I have not seen!
Steward is an anchor; he delivers on taking us with him into madness. Fleetwood gives us a dynamic performance, beginning as a sultry temptress (an aspect too often neglected),... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jeff Enfinger
