The justifiably overlooked 1955 noir Joe Macbeth takes the setting of Shakespeare’s Macbeth from gloomy, damp Scotland to the Chicago underworld. Macbeth is Shakespeare most noir play – the amoral protagonist and his scheming wife overreach in a climb for power and riches – and it doesn’t end well.
The title character of Joe Macbeth (Paul Douglas) is a lieutenant to the gangland.boss of Chicago. His wife (Ruth Roman) enjoys Joe’s financial success, but craves even more luxury. Joe Macbeth begins with Joe completing a violent task for his boss and being rewarded with a mansion, complete with butler. The Macbeths have their fortunes told and hear of an even more elevated future. That delights Mrs. Macbeth, but troubles Joe because he knows who must die to realize the prophesy. Nevertheless, the wife prods him along, and he murders his way to the top.
The tone of Joe Macbeth is sometimes humorous, often relies on gangster movie tropes with a wink at the camera, but is sometimes serious. It’s hard to imagine such weak writing being based on Shakespeare.
Every interpretation of Macbeth must decide how much of partner and/or instigator that Lady Macbeth is. In Joe Macbeth, it’s pretty much all her idea; the story goes all in on a hen-pecked husband who is brow-beaten into his murderous climb by his craven wife. The nagging, bullyig wife trope is almost cartoonish.
It doesn’t help that the middle-aged Paul Douglas looks like an ogre next to Ruth Roman, one of the most beautiful women of the 20th Century. It’s hard to buy that she is so attracted to him; yeah, he is financially successful, but …..
Roman, who usually was a fine film noir actress, plays the out, damn spot scene with histrionics.
The primary interest for the viewer is matching up elements of Joe Macbeth with those in the Bard’s masterpiece – Oh, there’s the witches’ prophecy.
Joe Macbeth was shot in Great Britain on evidently a very low budget. Director Ken Hughes’ first feature was in 1952 and Joe Macbeth was his FITH feature in 1955 alone, Two years later, he made an excellent film noir, The Long Haul with the underrated Victor Mature, the buxom Diana Dors and Patrick Allen as an especially snarling villain. Hughes later finally got to make some big movies – the Lawrence Harvey Of Human Bondage, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the Richard Harris Cromwell. Joe Macbeth was not a Big Movie.
Joe Macbeth is not available to stream. I watched it on Turner Classic Movies