Macbeth (1948)

Macbeth marked Orson Welles's return to Shakespearean interpretation, following his departure from Hollywood, with this 1948 version of the Scottish Play. Orson Welles had planned to take his company and put on the play at the Utah Centennial Festival in Salt Lake city. With costumes and props at his disposal, Welles rehearsed his company and shot this film in 21 days. The film is noticeable for revealing the idiosyncrasies of each character as the movie progresses, but suffers in small part as a result of having a significantly reduced budget from the previous works of Welles. Although the film was a critical and commercial disaster in both the USA and England, it was a huge success in many non-English speaking countries, especially France, where critics could not understand how the American and British press failed to appreciate the highly stylized and surrealistic approach Orson Welles took to the play. Today it is very highly regarded in English-speaking countries.

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