#870: WELLES, Orson: Othello (1952/1955)
WELLES, Orson (United States)
Othello [1952/1955]
Spine #870
Blu-ray
1952 Version
93 minutes
The Booklet
Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien.
Commentary
From 1995 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich and Orson Welles scholar Myron Meisel.
Filming “Othello”
Welles’s last completed film, a 1979 essay-documentary.
Short film
Return to Gleennascaul, a 1953 short film made by actors Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards during a hiatus from shooting Othello.
Interview 1
With Welles biographer Simon Callow.
Souvenirs d’”Othello”
A 1995 documentary about actor Suzanne Cloutier by François Girard.
Interview 2
With scholar François Thomas on the two versions.
Interview 3
With Ayanna Thompson, author of Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America.
Othello [1952/1955]
Spine #870
Blu-ray
Gloriously cinematic despite its tiny budget, Orson Welles's Othello is a testament to the filmmaker's stubborn willingness to pursue his vision to the ends of the earth. Unmatched in his passionate identification with Shakespeare's imagination, Welles brings his inventive visual approach to this enduring tragedy of jealousy, bigotry, and rage, and gives a towering performance as the Moor of Venice, alongside Suzanne Cloutier as the innocent Desdemona, and Micheál MacLiammóir as the scheming Iago. Shot over the course of three years in Italy and Morocco and plagued by logistical problems, this fiercely independent film joins Macbeth and Chimes at Midnight in making the case for Welles as the cinema's most audacious interpreter of the Bard.
1952 Version
93 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
1955 Version
91 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
1955 Version
91 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2017
Director/Writers
Based on the play by William Shakespeare.
Orson Welles was 37 when he directed Othello.
Other Welles films in the Collection:
#1104: Citizen Kane (1941)
#952: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
#322: The Complete Mr. Arkadin (1955)
#1191: The Trial (1962)
#830: Chimes At Midnight (1966)
#831: The Immortal Story (1968)
#288: F For Fake (1975)
The Film
Other Welles films in the Collection:
#1104: Citizen Kane (1941)
#952: The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
#322: The Complete Mr. Arkadin (1955)
#1191: The Trial (1962)
#830: Chimes At Midnight (1966)
#831: The Immortal Story (1968)
#288: F For Fake (1975)
The Film
A
Film Rating (0-60):
60
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Ten-page wraparound featuring an essay by film critic Geoffrey O’Brien.
Commentary
From 1995 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich and Orson Welles scholar Myron Meisel.
Filming “Othello”
Welles’s last completed film, a 1979 essay-documentary.
Short film
Return to Gleennascaul, a 1953 short film made by actors Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards during a hiatus from shooting Othello.
Interview 1
With Welles biographer Simon Callow.
Souvenirs d’”Othello”
A 1995 documentary about actor Suzanne Cloutier by François Girard.
Interview 2
With scholar François Thomas on the two versions.
Interview 3
With Ayanna Thompson, author of Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America.
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