SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Film director and gay rights activist von Praunheim was given 40 000 Deutsche Mark by the West German public broadcasting station WDR to produce a television opera. Von Praunheim’s operatic take on Macbeth is shot in black and white on location in Berlin, Plymouth, and Cornwall (Stonehenge, Corfe Castle, Menac Theatre). Intense static images are coupled with unusual perspectives and shrill recitals. Lynn French, a secretary from Stratford-upon-Avon, provided the voice-over for Magdalena Montezuma’s Lady Macbeth.

Language

English

Country

Germany

Medium

Television

Transmission details

18 Dec 1971 (Channel: WDR 3)

Duration

43 mins

Availability

No archive copy known (10/2008).

Credits

Director

Rosa von Praunheim

Producer

Josef Anweiler

Writer

Rosa von Praunheim

Editor

Josef Arweiler

Cast

Volker Eschke	Macbeth
Magdalena Montezuma	Lady Macbeth
Josef Adamczewski	Macduff
Berryt Bohlen	King Duncan
Rainer Kranich	Ross

Additional Details

Production type

Operas and Musicals

Plays

Macbeth

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

History

The film was shown on television together with Werner Schroeter’s version of Macbeth (see separate entry). It premiered at the Anthology Cinema, New York on an unknown date in Autumn/Winter 1971.

Reviews

Praunheim on his production: "Macbeth is a fascist film. The cinema hall turns into a concentration camp. The spectator is made familiar with a historically savage structure and becomes violated in a psychological sense. ... For me the film means speech analysis, words without sense and meaning that question any form of tolerance." Translated comment; for original quote in German see Dietrich Kuhlbroth’s article on ‘Macbeth Oper von Rosa von Praunheim’, cited in www.filmzentrale.com/rezis/macbethopervonrosavonpraunheimdk.htm (accessed 10/2008).

Production Company

Name

Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)