Macbeth (1948) + Voodoo Macbeth footage (We Work Again)

Macbeth (1948)
Dir. Orson Welles
107min, 35mm
With Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Roddy McDowall, Edgar Barrier, Alan Napier, Erskine Sanford, John Dierkes, Keene Curtis.


Here, Orson Welles adapts, produces, directs, and stars as the titular Scottish lord who is tragically undone by his own vaulting ambition. Screening in a rare 35mm print with the original “Scottish burr” soundtrack, Welles’ noir-tinged interpretation bubbles over with supernatural prophecy and murderous intrigue, effectively mixing the use of shadow and oblique camera angles thanks to John L. Russell’s (Psycho) cinematography. Co-starring Dan O’Herlihy (Robinson Crusoe), Roddy McDowall (Planet of the Apes), Alan Napier (TV’s Batman) and Jeanette Nolan (The Big Heat) in her film debut as Lady Macbeth, this iconic Mercury Production of The Scottish Play is an altogether stark and singular vision from a titan of cinema.

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Voodoo Macbeth footage (We Work Again)

This ephemeral 1937 film, produced by the Work Projects Administration, contains the only existing footage of Welles’ 1936 stage production of Macbeth, which featured an all-Black cast set in the Caribbean.

35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive; restoration funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.