The Trial / Macbeth

THE TRIAL, 1962, Milestone Films, 118 min. Franz Kafka’s classic novel of paranoia and conspiracy seems tailor-made for Orson Welles’ direction. A labyrinthine, deliciously satiric, nightmare vision of a man (Anthony Perkins) accused of an unspecified crime that emerges as a subtle allegory of Welles’ seven own Catch 22-tribulations working in the film industry.

MACBETH, 1948, Paramount, 107 min. Dir. Orson Welles. We’re very pleased to present this painstakingly restored (to its original form) version, led by the UCLA Film & TV Archives preservation officer Robert Gitt. The film had been cut by 21 minutes, re-recorded to "Americanize" the dialogue, and then rarely shown. Gitt tracked down the missing footage and original, Scottish-accented soundtrack, plus the Jacques Ibert overture and exit music. Critic Stanley Kauffman wrote about the restoration: "Whatever the details of Gitt’s job, Welles’ MACBETH is now a bold, exciting, innovative film."