Sightlines · reception
How Macbeth was received
1948 · Orson Welles · Macbeth on Sightlines
The arc
Mocked in 1948 — Welles even pulled it from Venice competition rather than face Olivier's Hamlet, and Republic later cut 21 minutes and re-dubbed away the Scottish accents. Since the 1980 restoration of Welles's cut, it's been reappraised as feverish expressionist Shakespeare rather than a cheap embarrassment.
What’s debated
The eternal fan fight: is this the boldest screen Macbeth or the botched one — and does it beat Kurosawa's Throne of Blood and Polanski's version in the 'best Macbeth' bracket?
Its footprint
Its fog-choked papier-mâché Scotland — Shakespeare staged on a B-western studio's soundstages — became the touchstone image of visionary filmmaking on no money, and critics famously ribbed Welles's boxy crown for making him look like the Statue of Liberty.
Where it stands
A Welles-completist cult object turned canon climber: the 'lesser' Welles that cinephiles increasingly insist you take as seriously as Kane.
Did you know? Welles shot the whole film in just 23 days at Republic Pictures — a studio best known for cheap westerns and serials — and had the actors pre-record their dialogue, then perform to playback on set to save time.