Macbeth · reception & legacy

How Macbeth has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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.