February 21st: OTHELLO (Orson Welles, 1951)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
By the end of the 1940s, Orson Welles had been up and down the Hollywood rollercoaster, initially the toast of the town as a promising young talent, then beset with controversy with his debut Citizen Kane and victim of studio interference on his subsequent productions. He managed greater creative control on his low-budget adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth for smaller studio Republic, and for his similar follow-up, opted to pursue independent financing in more artist-friendly Europe.
As was Welles's practice, he was fairly liberal with Shakespeare's text, insistent on making his story work primarily as a piece of cinema. Despite cutting approximately half the play's length and rearranging scenes chronologically, the film remains faithful to its author due to Welles's vast knowledge of and respect for Shakespeare from many years of performing and reading the plays (a book on the Bard co-written by Welles at the age of 19 was used in classrooms).
When the film's producer declared bankruptcy, Welles suspended production, and decided to raise the rest of the funds himself by acting in films for other directors (including Carol Reed's The Third Man). The shoot proceeded on and off for three years, relying on real locations instead of built sets, costumes and equipment "borrowed" from other films, and a hopscotch crew that went from various locations in Morocco to Rome and Venice in Italy. One notorious scene was staged in a Turkish bath with the actors wearing only towels due to missing costumes.
The cast is headed by Welles in the title role, his darker skin and curled hair a striking departure from previous looks. His opposite lead in the role of Desdemona was recast multiple times due to actress availability, requiring reshoots, eventually ending up with Canadian actress Suzanne Cloutier. The villain Iago was played by former Welles mentor, Irish stage actor Micheál MacLiammóir, founder of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, where Welles acted as a teenager.
Behind the camera, Welles used a trio of cinematographers, Italians G.R. Aldo (Visconti's Senso) and Anchise Brizzi (De Sica's Shoeshine) and Brazilian George Fanto, who shot Welles's uncompleted South American documentary It's All True. In typical Welles fashion, the film is filled with extreme camera angles, and claustrophobic, portentous use of shadows. He relied on an assortment of editors, and the musical score was by Italian composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (who would eventually work with Welles's friend Peter Bogdanovich on Daisy Miller).
During post-production, Welles was preparing two versions of the film, one for European audiences and another for its American release, the latter having narration by the director, a slightly altered soundtrack, and more traditional opening credits than Welles's original spoken word titles. Again, due to their availability, some of the actors' dialogue had to be dubbed, with Welles himself performing one of the roles. Initially unable to find American distribution, Welles submitted Othello to the Cannes Film Festival under the country of Morocco, and it would share the Grand Prize.
In 1992, Welles's daughter Beatrice spearheaded an expensive restoration of the film, leading to great fanfare and acclaim, but many Welles scholars took issue with the quality of the print used, minor editing changes, a different soundtrack, and the fact that the American cut was restored instead of the preferred European cut. Both cuts were restored again in the early 2010s for a more proper comparison, and the film's stature as one of Welles's more daring and accomplished works has been fortified.
Running time is 90 minutes.
By the end of the 1940s, Orson Welles had been up and down the Hollywood rollercoaster, initially the toast of the town as a promising young talent, then beset with controversy with his debut Citizen Kane and victim of studio interference on his subsequent productions. He managed greater creative control on his low-budget adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth for smaller studio Republic, and for his similar follow-up, opted to pursue independent financing in more artist-friendly Europe.
As was Welles's practice, he was fairly liberal with Shakespeare's text, insistent on making his story work primarily as a piece of cinema. Despite cutting approximately half the play's length and rearranging scenes chronologically, the film remains faithful to its author due to Welles's vast knowledge of and respect for Shakespeare from many years of performing and reading the plays (a book on the Bard co-written by Welles at the age of 19 was used in classrooms).
When the film's producer declared bankruptcy, Welles suspended production, and decided to raise the rest of the funds himself by acting in films for other directors (including Carol Reed's The Third Man). The shoot proceeded on and off for three years, relying on real locations instead of built sets, costumes and equipment "borrowed" from other films, and a hopscotch crew that went from various locations in Morocco to Rome and Venice in Italy. One notorious scene was staged in a Turkish bath with the actors wearing only towels due to missing costumes.
The cast is headed by Welles in the title role, his darker skin and curled hair a striking departure from previous looks. His opposite lead in the role of Desdemona was recast multiple times due to actress availability, requiring reshoots, eventually ending up with Canadian actress Suzanne Cloutier. The villain Iago was played by former Welles mentor, Irish stage actor Micheál MacLiammóir, founder of the Gate Theatre in Dublin, where Welles acted as a teenager.
Behind the camera, Welles used a trio of cinematographers, Italians G.R. Aldo (Visconti's Senso) and Anchise Brizzi (De Sica's Shoeshine) and Brazilian George Fanto, who shot Welles's uncompleted South American documentary It's All True. In typical Welles fashion, the film is filled with extreme camera angles, and claustrophobic, portentous use of shadows. He relied on an assortment of editors, and the musical score was by Italian composer Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (who would eventually work with Welles's friend Peter Bogdanovich on Daisy Miller).
During post-production, Welles was preparing two versions of the film, one for European audiences and another for its American release, the latter having narration by the director, a slightly altered soundtrack, and more traditional opening credits than Welles's original spoken word titles. Again, due to their availability, some of the actors' dialogue had to be dubbed, with Welles himself performing one of the roles. Initially unable to find American distribution, Welles submitted Othello to the Cannes Film Festival under the country of Morocco, and it would share the Grand Prize.
In 1992, Welles's daughter Beatrice spearheaded an expensive restoration of the film, leading to great fanfare and acclaim, but many Welles scholars took issue with the quality of the print used, minor editing changes, a different soundtrack, and the fact that the American cut was restored instead of the preferred European cut. Both cuts were restored again in the early 2010s for a more proper comparison, and the film's stature as one of Welles's more daring and accomplished works has been fortified.
Running time is 90 minutes.
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