7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.8 |
A ruthlessly ambitious Scottish lord seizes the throne with the help of his scheming wife and a trio of witches.
Starring: Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler, John StrideDrama | 100% |
History | 6% |
Period | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Winner of BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design, Roman Polanski's "Macbeth" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; exclusive new documentary featuring interviews with Roman Polanski, producer Andrew Braunsberg, assistant executive producer and former Playboy executive Victor Lowner, and actors Martin Shaw and Francesca Annis; Frank Simon's documentary "Polanski Meets Macbeth" (1971); and more. The release also arrives with a leaflet featuring Terrence Rafferty's essay "Something Wicked". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
The new king
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Roman Polanski's Macbeth arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"Approved by director Roman Polanski, this new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on an Oxberry wet-gate film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative and a 35mm color reversal internegative. The picture was restored by the Criterion Collection using MTI's DRS for debris, dirt, scratches, splices, and warps and Digital Vision's Phoenix for small dirt, flicker, grain, and noise management. Additional restoration work was performed by MTI in Los Angeles and Sony Colorworks in Culver City, California.
The 3.0 surround soundtrack was restored in 2013 by Deluxe Media/Chace Audio in Burbank, California. An original 35mm 3-track composite LCR magnetic element served as the basis for this restoration. Further restoration work was done by Criterion using Pro Tools HD and iZotope RX 3.
Transfer supervisor: Grover Crisp.
Colorist: Sheri Eisenberg/Sony Colorworks, Culver City, CA.
Additional color correction: Gilles Grainer/Technicolor Paris."
The film has a solid and very pleasing organic appearance that makes it exceptionally easy to appreciate Roman Polanski's vision. Despite the fact that large parts of the film are rather dark, depth and clarity are excellent. Color reproduction is outstanding -- there is an excellent range of nuanced browns, blues, grays, greens, and blacks. There are minor contrast fluctuations, but they are part of the film's original cinematography. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. Overall image stability is excellent. Lastly, there are no debris, scratches, cuts, warps, damage marks, or stains to report in this review. All in all, the high-definition transfer is one of the very best that I have seen this year. Superb work, indeed. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The lossless track opens up the film in all the right places. Depth and especially clarity (during the outdoor sequences) are excellent. Dynamic intensity is also very good, though there are some obvious inherited limitations. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Finally, there are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.
Roman Polanski's Macbeth remains the most violent and genuinely unsettling adaptation of William Shakespeare's iconic play. Recently restored by Criterion in 4K, the film now looks absolutely spectacular on Blu-ray. As usual, Criterion's release comes with some excellent supplemental features. I particularly enjoyed the exclusive documentary which features new video interviews with Roman Polanski, Martin Shaw and Francesca Annis, amongst others. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Special Edition
1948
2015
蜘蛛巣城 / Kumonosu-jô
1957
1955
影武者
1980
2013
1948
1991
1944
1979
1996
1965
1971
1958
2009
1975
山椒大夫 / Sanshô dayû
1954
Vredens dag
1943
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice
1951
2013