Dated and Disappointing

I saw this film when it first came out, in the early 1970s, and was quite impressed with it then, but boy, has it dated! I showed a GCSE class the film recently, and they, and I, were really bored. Acting, directing and film techniques have all moved on so much, and Polanski's film just appears strangely 'flat', with just a few better moments. It is hard to give Macbeth (as a play) much life, as many of the speeches are tedious, frankly, and there isn't the great literary drama of, say, Othello or Lear (to say nothing of Hamlet, of course), which are far more rounded plays. Macbeth is in danger of being one-dimensional, as there is so MUCH focus on physical violence, and both Macbeth's deviation into corruption/greed/ambition and Lady M's descent into madness are in dramatic terms too quick, too sketchy. Thus a film director must spin out these aspects and thus flesh out the characters, and Polanski just doesn't quite manage it. Nice try, but falls short. I think I'd agree that it is quitea useful film for school pupils revising for GCSE - but that is to damn it with faint praise!