Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

ringa46 People are mistaking the subtle nature film allows with Shakespeare on state. There are no closeups, or music to convey emotion, it all must come from the actors. Like silent movies, it looks like overacting to the untrained eye, but like Noh Theater, the action must be conveyed in body movements akin to dance. Jeremy Brett meets this challenge with brilliant subtly one second and booming voice sure to be heard in the bleachers. The other actors however, are awful. Lady MacBeth is the worst. The rest seem to barely remember their lines, reciting them in a monotone barely worthy of a grade school production. Watch it for Jeremy, the rest (as Hamlet would say) SHOULD be silence.

sarastro7 This Macbeth version has an overall rating of about 7.5, but most of the reviewers are rather less kind to it than that. As a seasoned Shakespeare appreciator with a large collection of Shakespeare DVDs, let me tell you: the overall rating is correct, and the reviewers are wrong.The only thing wrong with this version is that it is not a big-budget super-production, the picture quality is not great (after all, it is from 1981!) and the sound on the DVD is a bit out of sync. All annoying, to be sure, but not something that should reflect on the overall quality of the theatrical performance itself.This filmed stage version is well-acted and well-produced, and both of the main characters (Brett and Laurie), and the rest of the cast too, shine in their roles, making the character development believable. If you are looking for a good stage version of Macbeth, you could do a lot worse than this. And if you collect Shakespeare DVDs, you should definitely seek out this.7 out of 10.

boudica10 I agree that it is one of the worst versions of Macbeth ever made. Perhaps the worst. Brett overacts and Laurie is just ludicrous. The one good feature is the choreography for the three Witches. I had to preview this for inclusion in a college curriculum. All of us in the small audience (admittedly of English teachers) were laughing hysterically by the middle of the film. I am a strong admirer of Jeremy Brett, though even as Sherlock Holmes, he sometimes was over the top. His performance here is embarrassing. The Trevor Nunn video with Dench and McKellan is by far the best Macbeth ever put on film. I first saw it in the 1980's and have never forgotten it. Now if only some producer would pay to have Patrick Stewart's recent Chichester Macbeth on DVD, we would have two great productions to enjoy.

PhiFitz With a high school student struggling through the text, we found two stageplay versions on film, this one with Jeremy Brett (RIP, Sherlock Holmes) and Piper Laurie, and the McKellen/Dench version. I have seen three ways to film a stageplay. (1) Put up a few cameras with an audience present (never works). (2) Take a cast used to performing before an audience and reblock for cameras and shoot with no audience (this version). (3) Forget audience, block and perform entirely for film (McKellen/Dench).So this Brett/Laurie version features actors who project as though they must entertain people 100 feet away, and they move through a paragraph of lines as one would truly read a paragraph. Well enough.But the McKellen/Dench is much more gripping, despite a minimalist set. Lines and characters were omitted for the sake of an overall vision. Characters stopped dead in mid-paragraph for effect. I'll never remember who Ross was in the Brett; I'll remember Ross/Porter in the McKellen. No spoiler here, but in the two versions one sees radically different Lady Macbeths -- not merely in execution but in conception. The Dench Macbeth being absolutely thrilling.This Brett/Laurie, however, tracks Shakespeare. So the high school student should begin here. Then move on to the McKellen/Dench.