Macbeth

US/UK 1971, d Roman Polanski

Polanski vehemently denied that this gruesome adaptation of Shakespeare's Scottish Play was his personal response to the Manson murders, but the critics wouldn't have it any other way and deconstructed it almost to extinction. Which is a pity, as Polanski's Macbeth has a lot going for it in its own right, with unconventionally youthful and charismatic leads (Jon Finch and Francesca Annis) convincingly conveying both their ruthless ambition and resulting guilt.

Co-scripted and intelligently pruned by the critic Kenneth Tynan (who had previously tried to get Polanski to make erotic shorts for his notorious Oh! Calcutta revue), it was produced by Playboy Productions, who must have been disconcerted to find that most of the film's nudity comes in the scene where Macbeth confronts a coven of decidedly wizened witches - the out-takes include them collectively wishing Hugh Hefner a happy birthday.

Evocatively scored by the Third Ear Band (Polanski's regular composer Krzysztof Komeda died shortly after completing Rosemary's Baby), if it never seriously challenges Kurosawa's Throne of Blood as the definitive screen Macbeth, Polanski's version is certainly one of the most distinguished adaptations that actually retains Shakespeare's original text.