Tuesday is shaping up to be a great shopping day for Orson Welles fans.
Warner Home Video is releasing the 75th anniversary edition of Citizen Kane, while Olive Films will issue a deluxe edition of Macbeth on DVD and Blu-ray.
As first reported in Wellesnet back in May, this special Olive Films Signature Edition will go far beyond the bare bones package that the Chicago-based label released four years ago.
It will include both the original 1948 107-minute cut, replete with affected highland accents, and the 1950 pared-down 85-minute re-release that removed much of the accented dialogue. In addition, it offers footage from the 1937 New York stage production of “Voodoo” Macbeth with reflection from renowned Welles and cinema experts.
Olive Films released an exceptional version of 107-minute cut with no extras in 2012. The company has told Wellesnet that it undertook an “extensive cleanup to remove dust, dirt, stains, and other issues” from both edits of Macbeth for the Olive Signature edition release.
This special home video (priced at DVD, $34.99 and Blu-ray, $39.99) features:
New high-definition digital restoration of the 1948 and 1950 versions
Audio commentary by Welles scholar Joseph McBride
Excerpt from We Work Again, a 1937 WPA documentary containing scenes from Welles’ Federal Theatre Project production of “Voodoo” Macbeth
“That Was Orson Welles” – interview with Welles’ close friend and co-author, Peter Bogdanovich
“Welles and Shakespeare” – interview with Welles expert, Professor Michael Anderegg
“Adapting Shakespeare on Film” – conversation with directors Carlo Carlei (Romeo & Juliet) and Billy Morrissette (Scotland, PA)
“Restoring Macbeth” – interview with former UCLA Film & Television Archive Preservation Officer Bob Gitt
“Free Republic: The Story of Herbert J. Yates and Republic Pictures”
“The Two Macbeths” – essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
Macbeth was an attempt by Welles to make classics on a small budget, hoping that if the picture was a success, he would be allowed to do similar projects. The film, shot in just 23 days on a shoestring budget, was unfairly compared to Laurence Olivier’s big budget Hamlet upon its release in 1948 and attacked by critics.
Two years later, Republic had Welles cut two reels and re-record the soundtrack with the actors speaking in their natural voices, and not the approximation of Scottish accents that Welles initially requested.
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