Macbeth is a 1948 American film adaptation by Orson Welles of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. In 1947, Orson Welles began promoting the notion of bringing a Shakespeare drama to the motion picture screen. He initially attempted to pique investors’ interest in an adaptation of Othello, but was unable to gather support for the project. Welles switched to pushing for a film adaptation of Macbeth, which he visualized in its violent setting as "a perfect cross between Wuthering Heights and Bride of Frankenstein." Teaming with producer Charles K. Feldman, Welles successfully convinced... Herbert Yates, the founder and president of Republic Pictures, of the prospect of creating a film version of Macbeth. Yates was attempting to raise the level of his studio, which produced Roy Rogers Westerns and low-budget features, into that of a prestige studio. Republic had already tried to present off-beat features, including Gustav Machaty's Jealousy and Ben Hecht's Specter of the Rose , so having a creative artist of Welles’ stature was considered an artistic coup. However, Yates was not able to provide Welles with a large budget.
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