Product Details

• Actors: Sean Pertwee, Greta Scacchi, Lorren Bent, Denise Black, Richard Coyle
• Directors: Michael Bogdanov
• Writers: William Shakespeare
• Producers: Sue Pritchard
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Home Vision
• VHS Release Date: September 19, 2000
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004W3HJ
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,703 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Gussying up the characters in leather jackets and denims and replacing broadswords with automatic rifles, this British television version of Shakespeare's play is fitfully inventive, but more often merely thrashes about, enamored of its own sound and fury. The best guess for when director Michael Bogdanov intends the play to be set is some Mad Max-ish future, based on the abandoned industrial building he uses for the castle at Dunsinane; the seemingly iconoclastic choice actually reveals how confused and incoherent this production is. The dingy brick exterior is neither a believable seat of power nor a visual manifestation of precivilized barbarity (as were the papier-mâché caves in Orson Welles's unfairly maligned film version). In the end it's just a warehouse, so why are its inhabitants walking about in tuxedoes and seating themselves at elegantly laid-out banquet tables? Only because, it seems, the imagery looks cool; and that should not be reason enough. Hand in hand with the confused visuals comes an indifferent grasp on character: Sean Pertwee and Greta Scacchi both do fine work as the Scottish usurper and his lady, but they don't bring anything fresh or original to the roles (both of which have admittedly been pretty well explored by now). Some vaguely annoying visuals aside, this Macbeth offers nothing new. --Bruce Reid

Product Description

This is Macbeth as never seen before! Presenting a vibrant and exciting production of "that Scottish play" offering newcomers and Shakespeare lovers a memorable experience with one of Shakespeare's darkest tragedies. Using Shakespeare's classic text, the production is set in a timeless zone somewhere in the twentieth century against a raw, urban industrial environment giving the film a surreal quality. The abstracted setting puts this version of Macbeth alongside other modern treatments of Shakespeare such as Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes. Ultimately a deeply thought-provoking portrait of Macbeth and his Lady-a sense of two powerful characters who have sown the seeds of their own destruction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT'S JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!, September 27, 2000

By A Customer

My colleagues and I have searched high and low for a version of Macbeth that was true to Shakespeare's language and characterization and, at the same time, entertaining to high school juniors. I have finally found it. This film combines excellent acting with a post-modern setting, too surreal for students to recognize yet not specific enough to find unbelievable. I was impressed mostly with Greta Scacchi's and Sean Pertwee's depictions of the lead characters; they deliver Shakespeare's lines with the correct intonation and expression helping students understand meaning. Also, the director chose appropriate special effects, such as the "witches" disappearing upon Macbeth's interrogation, and avoided ones the kids tend to find ludicrous, like floating daggers. My only critique is the director's decision to have over half of Macbeth's monologues delivered as voice-overs rather than Pertwee talking to himself. The actors are mostly unknown, but highly talented; the cinematograpy is low-budget, but decent and daring; and the film is edited down to 87 minutes, but true to original content. My final thought: think Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet with a smaller budget and unknown, but MUCH BETTER, actors-- if you enjoyed it, you'll love this.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars forget literary snobbery and enjoy this, November 14, 2001

By	Gillian Millbank (NY) - See all my reviews

I saw this version of Macbeth a couple of years ago on PBS and have been seeking it since. My favourite of all Shakespeare's works, I have delighted in reading Macbeth throughout my life both in mandatory education and for sheer pleasure so I tend to be rather critical of "Macbeth for the movies". I don't believe I have seen a performance, on stage or film, that caught my imagination like this production. Perhaps I have unusual taste but my advice is buy it and enjoy the difference.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Minimal production value added, but fantastic acting., January 26, 2004

By	Malleus - See all my reviews

This Shakesperean adaptation is not like the big budget "Romeo + Juliet" staring pretty-boy Leo DiCaprio. Though it is similar in the sense that it's set in a modern (or post-modern) environment, "Macbeth" was obviously filmed on a much smaller budget by BBC television. It looks as if they wished to mimic other adaptations of the bard's work in order to make it more "relevent". Though I personally prefer Shakespeare in it's historical context and setting, a "modern" version helps me as a teacher to make the play more understandable to high school students with minimal attention spans.

"Macbeth" takes place in a post-modern industrial setting; Macbeth's castle looks like an old abandoned factory or warehouse. The costumes are a militaristic hodgepodge and one gets the sense that this story is taking place in the ruins of an older, recently extinct, society (e.g. our own). One of my students compared the movie to "Mad Max." The background music is repetative and distracting, almost like bad techno, and it took a while to get used to it.

Where this movie is superior to the DiCaprio "R+J" is in the acting. While my students initially ridiculed the movie because of the landscape and the music, these distractions were forgotten midway through the film. I was very impressed by Sean Pertwee. His portrayal shows how unchecked ambition leads to Macbeth's eventual fall from grace. Greta Satchi is more than convincing as the duplicitous Lady Macbeth who, consumed by guilt, is driven first mad, then to suicide.

When I first reviewed this film, I was concerned the production value would cause my students to ridicule it, comparing it to what Hollywood has churned out. Turns out I shouldn't have been worried at all.