Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth is thought to be a cursed play. It is never referred to in the theatre by its name but as “the Scottish play”. IMDb lists 98 exact title film and TV adaptations to date and numerous adaptations under different titles, most notably Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 film Throne of Blood. The best known straight film adaptations until now have been Orson Welles’ studio-butchered 1948 version with Welles and Jeanette Nolan; Roman Polanski’s acclaimed 1971 version with Jon Finch and Francesca Annis; and the legendary 1979 British TV production with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench. Add to them Justin Kurzel’s 2015 version.

Australian director Kurzel, the husband of actress Essie Davis (The Babadook), has given us a version that is the most cinematic to date, with breathtaking expanses of Macbeth, Macduff and other characters roaming the countryside or simply standing still interspersed with the dialogue scenes. Michael Fassbender, to no one’s surprise, makes a forceful, thoroughly human Macbeth, the Scottish soldier of the king egged on by his wife to kill the king, frame others for the deed and proclaim himself the new king. Even better is Marion Cottilard as the evil Lady Macbeth, her line readings the best she has ever done in English. Her “out damn spot” soliloquy is one of the film’s highlights. Overall, I’d rank it as the second best version behind Polanski’s.

The 1948, 1971 and 2015 versions are available on Blu-ray and standard DVD, the 1979 version on standard DVD only.

Film versions of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick haven’t been nearly as prolific. There are only 17 exact title matches on IMDb. The best known until now have been John Huston’s 1956 version with Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart and Orson Welles in a cameo as the village priest and the 1998 TV version with Patrick Stewart, Henry Thomas and Peck in Welles’ cameo role. Now comes Ron Howard’s In the Heart of the Sea from Nathaniel Philbrick’s award-winning 2000 novel about the real maritime disaster that inspired Melville’s masterpiece.

The story of In the Heart of the Sea is framed by an 1850 interview between Melville (Ben Whishaw) and the middle-aged man (Brendan Gleeson) who was the cabin boy on the New England whaling ship Essex that set sail thirty years earlier. Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland as the 14-year-old version of Gleeson’s character, head the cast of the seagoing vessel that is destroyed by a giant whale. The real drama begins after the sinking with the officers and crew fighting for survival and the resultant cannibalism that sustains them. Michelle Fairley steals her too few scenes as Gleeson’s supportive wife.

In the Heart of the Sea is available on 3D Blu-ray, 2D Blu-ray and standard DVD. The 1956 and 1998 versions of Moby Dick are available on standard DVD only in the U.S.

Richard Fleischer was one of fourteen directors nominated for the Directors Guild of America award as the best of 1958 for The Vikings, losing to Vincente Minnelli for Gigi.

Long a staple of home video, Kino Lorber has released an excellent Blu-ray upgrade of the popular film made on location in Norway highlighted by its meticulously detailed reconstructed Viking ships. It was photographed by the incomparable Jack Cardiff. Although often criticized as being bloody, it really isn’t even with the best remembered action sequences involve the pecking of Kirk Douglas’ eye out by a hawk, Tony Curtis’ hand being sliced off with a sword, and Ernest Borgnine leaping to his death in a pit of ravenous dogs. Other than that, it’s a fairly predictable tale of a secret prince and a kidnapped princess in 9th Century England and Norway. The 2002 documentary, The Vikings: A Tale of Norway with Director Richard Flesicher is imported from the 2002 DVD release

On stage, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was one of the great musicals of the 1970s, filled with a deft mix of up-tempo tunes and wistful ballads, most of which were either been watered down or eliminated altogether in the 1982 film version directed by Colin Higgins (Harold and Maude). Universal’s Blu-ray upgrade certainly looks and sounds better than previous home video releases of the film, but with the emphasis now on comedy at the expense of Carol Hall’s glorious score, it remains a minor amusement at best.

Dolly Parton stars as Miss Mona, the real-life Chicken Ranch’s madam opposite Burt Reynold as the local sheriff and her protector. She sings her 1974 hit “I Will Always Love You” in the film’s coda to compensate for some of the missing material, but it’s too little, too late. The film’s fabricated romance between the madam and the sheriff and the tacked on happy ending are not only at variance with history, they defy credulity. The best moments are those recaptured from the stage version, most notably the Texas A&M football team’s “The Aggie Song,” Parton and the departing girls’ “Hard Candy Christmas,” and surprisingly the Governor’s song “The Sidestep” performed by Charles Durning who received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his extended cameo.

Warner Archive has released two long sought after films showcasing the talents of Eleanor Parker on standard DVD.

Based on the 1850 gothic mystery novel, 1948’s The Woman in White, directed by Peter Godfrey (Christmas in Connecticut), provides the actress with a tantalizing dual role as both the titular mysterious woman in white and a lookalike heiress. Gig Young in a rare leading man role, a fine Alexis Smith, and a superbly diabolic Sydney Greenstreet co-star in one of the best versions of this oft-filmed story.

Parker, by then a three-time Oscar nominee, had the misfortune of going up against Joanne Woodward’s Oscar-winning multiple personality character in Nunnally Johnson’s 1957 film, The Three Faces of Eve, the same year she played a similarly afflicted character in Hugo Haas’ Lizzie. Eve, based on a best-selling case history, was the more authentic, but Lizzie, based on a novel by Shirley Jackson (The Haunting), was more fun. It co-starred Richard Boone as her shrink, Joan Blondell as her alcoholic aunt, director Haas as a concerned neighbor, and Johnny Mathis in his only on-screen appearance as a lounge singer in the dive one of Parker’s personalities likes to frequent.

This week’s new releases include Brooklyn and Carol.