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William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD]
 
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William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD]

DVD ~ Ian McKellen
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Customers buy this item with Macbeth [DVD] [1971] DVD ~ Jon Finch

William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD] + Macbeth [DVD] [1971]
Price For Both: £10.96

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  • This item: William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD] DVD ~ Ian McKellen

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Macbeth [DVD] [1971] DVD ~ Jon Finch

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    Eligible for FREE UK delivery on orders over £5 with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD]
77% buy the item featured on this page:
William Shakespeare's Macbeth [1978] [DVD] 4.1 out of 5 stars (7)
£5.98
Macbeth [DVD] [1971]
16% buy
Macbeth [DVD] [1971] 4.5 out of 5 stars (26)
£4.98
GCSE Shakespeare: "Macbeth" Text Guide Pt. 1 & 2 (Gcse Shakespeare Text Guide)
3% buy
GCSE Shakespeare: "Macbeth" Text Guide Pt. 1 & 2 (Gcse Shakespeare Text Guide) 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
£4.28
Much Ado About Nothing [DVD] [1993]
2% buy
Much Ado About Nothing [DVD] [1993] 4.3 out of 5 stars (52)
£3.98
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Product details

  • Actors: Ian McKellen, Judi Dench
  • Directors: Philip Casson
  • Writers: William Shakespeare
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: All Regions
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 24 May 2004
  • Run Time: 145 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0001XLWGC
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,052 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Synopsis
Trevor Nunn's film of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ambition and witchcraft attempts to recreate his acclaimed 1976 staging of the play. Ian McKellen and Judi Dench play the ambitious pair who murder their way to the Scottish throne. Nunn's film retains the spare, simple look of his stage production, using contemporary costumes and a bare, circular stage to focus attention on the intense imagery of the play's language. The result is an unusual and spellbinding retelling of a classic tale.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
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 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying, dark, great!, 5 Sep 2005
By A Customer
A TV version of a stage production is normally a recipe for disaster: not so here, however. Ian MacKellen and Judi Dench (not yet Sir and Dame) are riveting as the husband and wife team from hell. McKellen's descent into indifferent, hubristic madness is chilling, and Judi Dench's screech in the sleepwalking scene is - quite simply - unbelievable: if this does not send shudders down your spine, nothing will.
Given the fact that this Macbeth was recorded in 1979, the picture quality leaves a bit to be desired, but any lover of Shakespeare or great acting would be insane not to buy this DVD.
Prepare to be blown away. (And by the way: where is television of this quality today?)
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely superb, 25 Feb 2007
By Alan Butterworth "alan_2526" (North Wales) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The use of light & dark is fantastic. It's in colour but looks like black & white.

Comes across as a stage play (which it is!) and avoids the temptation to go for lavish sets, e.g., the battle scenes, just because it's a film.

I saw the original stage play and this is just as good. The best filmed Shakespeare tragedy I've seen. Absolutely superb
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars shakespeare as it should be, 11 Jan 2007
By Alan Cutts (Wexford, Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is not just another Macbeth. Though faithful to the text and to the poetry of the text, this is used as a springboard to the production's own powerful exploration of what really drove Shakespeare - the issue of good and evil. Neither McKellen nor Dench have quite the right face for their characters (too strong and too warm respectively) but this is unimportant. Their unparalleled intensity of delivery glues the play together from beginning to end, however unpleasant to watch. But the most remarkable achievement is the way the so-called `minor' characters steadily coalesce into a unified force for good that by the end over-rides all else in our attention. The Act IV English scene is extraordinarily strong, `king's cure' and all. The need to produce for TV, usually a noose around the neck of Shakespeare, is mightily used here: no set to speak of, darkness everywhere against which a certain amount of white and occasional flashes of red or gold make their impact, a superb use of camera angles, and music that perfectly matches and supports the tone of the production. And as well as the modern dress there is a curiously modern style of delivery that makes this not Shakespeare's exploration of his theme but our own. Trevor Nunn and his team have out-Shakespeared Shakespeare.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Flawless
I have never seen a "Macbeth" to touch this - on stage or screen.
This has the darkness, the danger and the madness that so often eludes those who try to bring this piece to... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Lovborg

1.0 out of 5 stars Far inferior to Polanski version
If you are looking for a film version capturing the atmosphere of the play, go for Polanski (1971) rather than Judi Dench and Co. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Lorenz Auf Der Maur

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated, no background but still reasonable
For those, like me, who are newcomers to Shakespeare MacBeth is a play about a man who could have been great. Read more
Published on 24 Jun 2006 by Francisco

5.0 out of 5 stars A performance that stands the test of time
I remember watching this RSC production of Macbeth on VHS while studying for my English GCSEs in 1996. Read more
Published on 22 April 2006 by alexkemp

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