12/21/2023 0 Comments Orson welles othello(Both versions are included in this Criterion Bu-ray release.) Shooting began in 1949, but dragged on for years due to constant funding problems that frayed nerves, tested the patience and endurance of cast and crew, and spawned challenging continuity issues. ![]() To fully appreciate Othello, it's important to know a few essential facts about the film prior to viewing it. To begin with, two versions exist - the 1952 European edition (which won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival) and the 1955 American/UK edition. An army of raging soldiers could not bring Othello down, but a simple little lie becomes a deadly, penetrating arrow to the heart of a man "who loved not wisely, but too well." Iago manipulates Othello like a puppet on a string, and as The Moor unravels, the irony of a big, burly, confident, highly lauded warrior falling victim to something as small and innocuous as innuendo is both striking and devastating. With supreme cunning, the bitter, resentful Iago (Micheál MacLiammóir) engineers a series of events that makes Othello (Welles) doubt the fidelity of his young, attractive, and completely devoted bride, Desdemona (Suzanne Cloutier), and seek revenge against her. Othello soberly and incisively depicts the impotent Iago's systematic dismantling of his supposed friend and commanding officer, whom he despises with every fiber of his being. A case could even be made that Othello's downfall somehow mirrors that of Welles himself, the lofty boy wonder who was quickly dethroned and defrocked by manipulative moguls who were jealous of his talent and fearful his brilliance would eclipse theirs.Īnd it's that same "green-eyed monster" of jealousy - over Othello's virility, military prowess, and impeccable reputation - that fuels Iago's desire to destroy the man known as The Moor. Like Othello (and Macbeth, whom Welles portrayed on screen a few years earlier), Welles was a noble, driven, always colorful, often exasperating, and ultimately tortured figure in the film industry, and he exudes all those qualities in this production. Yes, the poetic dialogue adds immeasurably to the experience, but the visuals acutely convey most of the tension, torment, and emotion. You can watch Othello with no sound (in fact, that's the way Welles edited it) and still be utterly transfixed. First and foremost, it's a staggeringly beautiful film. For me, Welles' Othello has very little to do with Shakespeare and everything to do with the art of cinema. I don't profess to be a Shakespeare scholar, nor am I even much of a Shakespeare fan, so this review won't attempt to outline any deficiencies in the adaptation or question Welles' approach to the material or its characters and themes. ![]() On the contrary, they validate his courageous and individual approach to a classic work. Welles may omit huge chunks of the text, but the deletions don't diminish his unabashed reverence for The Bard. ![]() Yet despite the film's relative brevity, its core themes and inherent power remain intact. Some Shakespeare aficionados might accuse Welles of disrespecting and bastardizing the material because he brazenly cuts a five-act, three-hour play down to a lean, mean 90-or-so minutes. Like a hungry animal, Welles attacks this age-old tale of corrosive jealousy, cancerous hatred, and destructive manipulations with indefatigable gusto, infusing it with a muscular energy that's both fresh and exhilarating. Othello is bold and beautiful and rough and sloppy all at the same time, yet it grabs us by the throat and won't release its stranglehold until the final frame. In fact, its myriad imperfections make us appreciate the movie's audacious artistry all the more. The term "monumental achievement" is often cavalierly bandied about, but in the case of Othello, it fits like a glove. Packed with more breathtaking images and inventive compositions per capita than almost any other motion picture in history, Othello is a visual feast from start to finish, and a tribute to one man's dogged perseverance, innovative vision, and boundless creativity. The influence of that immortal film continues to reach far and wide, but arguably no Welles production breaks more rules or dazzles the senses more completely than his mesmerizing adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. Orson Welles instinctively knew that, and with a bravado that often belied his youth, he gleefully disrupted the status quo, first in radio, then in Hollywood, where he regularly ruffled feathers and produced what many still believe to be the greatest movie of all time, Citizen Kane. Bucking the establishment and forging fearlessly into uncharted waters is often the only way any art form can expand and develop. ![]() Almost every great artist breaks the rules.
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