Othello (1952 film)

Othello
1992 re-release film poster
Directed by	Orson Welles
Produced by	Orson Welles
Written by	Orson Welles, William Shakespeare
Starring	Orson Welles, Micheál MacLiammóir, Suzanne Cloutier, Robert Coote
Distributed by	Marceau Films/United Artists
Release date(s)	1952
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Othello is a 1952 drama film based on the Shakespearean play, made by Mercury Productions Inc. and Les Films Marceau and distributed by United Artists (1955). It was directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also played the title role (in blackface makeup). The screenplay was adapted by Welles and an uncredited Jean Sacha. The film was shot on location in Morocco, Venice, Tuscany and Rome and at the Scalera Studios in Rome. Welles trimmed the three-hour Shakespeare play to 91 minutes for the film.

In addition to Orson Welles, the cast consisted of Micheál MacLiammóir as Iago, Robert Coote as Roderigo, Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona, Michael Laurence as Cassio, Fay Compton as Emilia and Doris Dowling as Bianca. Joseph Cotten and Joan Fontaine also appear, uncredited.

One of Welles's more complicated shoots, Othello was filmed on and off over a period of three years. The film was hampered by its Italian backer going bankrupt early in the film. This led to some imaginative solutions; the famous scene in which Roderigo is murdered in a Turkish bath was done because the costumes weren't ready. Shooting began in 1949, but was forced to shut down when money for the production ran out. This led to a stop start production; for example, one of the fight scenes starts in Morocco, but the ending was shot in Rome several months later. Welles used the money from his acting jobs, such as The Third Man (1949), to finance the film.^[1]

This lengthy and complicated shoot is detailed in Micheál MacLiammóir's book Put Money in Thy Purse.

Cast

• Orson Welles - Othello
• Micheál MacLiammóir - Iago
• Robert Coote - Roderigo
• Suzanne Cloutier - Desdemona
• Hilton Edwards - Brabantio
• Nicholas Bruce - Lodovico
• Michael Laurence - Michael Cassio
• Fay Compton - Emilia
• Doris Dowling - Bianca

Reception

Released in Europe to acclaim in 1952, the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival,^[2] though it was largely ignored in the United States. It was controversially restored in 1992 with its soundtrack rebuilt in stereo sound (the dialogue was largely the same, though re-mastered, but the score was newly recorded in stereo) and re-released to theatres. The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] This version was shown to acclaim in the United States, and first appeared on cable television in 1995.

Restoration and Controversy

In 1992, the film underwent a highly controversial restoration. Beatrice Welles-Smith, daughter of Orson Welles, supervised the restoration, which saw over $1 million spent on improving the picture quality, re-synching the audio, adding extra sound effects not present in the original, and completely re-recording the soundtrack in stereo.

However, film critic and Welles authority Jonathan Rosenbaum has been highly critical of the restoration. He has argued that numerous changes were made to Welles' original intent. He has asserted that the restoration was incompetent, using a copy of the American-release prints which originally came with a technically flawed soundtrack that the restoration has been unable to compensate for, and which could have been easily avoided. He has argued that the now-banned and out-of-print 1995 Laserdisc edition of the unrestored film is far closer to Welles' original vision. Most damningly, he states that in her refusing to give permission for her father's version to be shown or released "she’s effectively made her father’s version of the film (as well as, more indirectly, his final feature, Filming Othello), illegal, so that she can make more money on her own version", since she only receives royalties on the version which she restored.^[4] In support of this, he cites several instances of Beatrice Welles suing or attempting to sue restorations and rereleases of her father's work (including films such as Touch of Evil which she does not hold the rights to), unless she is granted a percentage of the profits. Accordingly, he blames her for the unseen status of Welles' final released film, Filming Othello (which contains many clips from Othello), and his last unreleased film, The Other Side of the Wind (arguing that her court success over Othello emboldened her to attempt to claim rights over this film, which is mostly owned by Welles' partner Oja Kodar).^[5]

As of 2011^[update], the 1992 restoration is now out-of-print in the U.S., and can be found only in outlet stores, whilst the original version remains unavailable.

References

1. ^ Filming Othello
2. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Othello". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4026/year/1952.html. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
3. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Othello". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/27/year/1992.html. Retrieved 2009-08-17. 
4. ^ http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=20202
5. ^ “Discovering Orson Welles” by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Google Books

External links

• Othello at the Internet Movie Database
• Othello (1952 film) at AllRovi