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''Othello'' (also known as ''The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice'') is a 1951
tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
film directed and produced by
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
, who also adapted the Shakespearean play and played the
title role The title character in a Narrative, narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The ...
. Recipient of the ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' (precursory name for the ''
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
'') at the
1952 Cannes Film Festival The 5th Cannes Film Festival was held from 23 April to 10 May 1952. As in the previous three festivals, the entire jury of this festival was made up of French persons, with Maurice Genevoix as the Jury President. The Grand Prix of the Festival w ...
, the film was distributed by
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
when it was released in the United States in 1955. ''Othello'' was filmed on location over a three-year period in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
,
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
,
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
and at the Scalera Studios in Rome. In addition to Orson Welles, the cast consisted of
Micheál Mac Liammóir Micheál Mac Liammóir (born Alfred Willmore; 25 October 1899 – 6 March 1978) was an actor, designer, dramatist, writer and impresario in 20th-century Ireland. Though born in London to an English family with no Irish connections, he emigrated ...
as
Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago hates ...
(one of his only starring film roles),
Robert Coote Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of ''My Fai ...
as Roderigo,
Suzanne Cloutier Suzanne Cloutier (July 10, 1923 – December 2, 2003) was a Canadian film actress. Biography Daughter of Edmond Cloutier, the King's Printer in Ottawa, Suzanne Cloutier escaped an early unconsummated marriage to become an actress, first with Ch ...
as
Desdemona Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...
, Michael Laurence as Cassio,
Fay Compton Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...
as Emilia and
Doris Dowling Doris Dowling (May 15, 1923 – June 18, 2004) was an American actress of film, stage and television. Best known for the films ''The Crimson Key'' (1946) and ''Bitter Rice'' (1949). Also known for playing Irene Adams on ''My Living Doll'' (196 ...
as Bianca. Three different versions of the film have seen theatrical release — two supervised by Welles, and a 1992 restoration supervised by his daughter,
Beatrice Welles Beatrice Giuditta Welles (also known as Beatrice Mori di Gerfalco Welles; born November 13, 1955) is an American former child actress, known for her roles in the film '' Chimes at Midnight'' (1966) and the documentary travelogue ''In the Land of ...
.


Plot

The film closely follows the plot of the play, but restructures and reorders individual scenes. Welles trimmed the source material, which is generally around three hours when performed, down to a little over 90 minutes for the film. The movie opens with Othello and Desdemona's funeral. The first main scene shows Iago complaining to Roderigo about not being advised of the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. Roderigo is contemplating killing himself but Iago says: “Ere I would say I would drown myself for the love of a guinea hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.” Iago is saying that he would rather be a baboon than kill himself for a woman. He further says : "Put but money in thy purse.", Iago is urging Roderigo to sell all his lands and give the money to Iago, who will use it to convince Desdemona to have sex. Desdemona's father, Brabantio, is furious about the marriage after being told of it by Iago and Roderigo. Brabantio accuses Othello of bewitching his daughter. Othello convinces Brabantio that it was not witchcraft but rather by his tragic tales. By planting a handkerchief, Iago convinces Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. Othello had previously promoted Cassio to lieutenant over Iago, hence his jealousy. Othello strangles Desdemona. Iago knifes to death Emilia, as she ptotests Desdemona's innocence. Othello realises his mistake.


Production

One of Welles' more complicated shoots, ''Othello'' was filmed erratically over three years. Shooting began in 1949, but was forced to shut down when the film's original Italian producer announced on one of the first days of shooting that he was
bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...
. Instead of abandoning filming altogether, Welles as director began pouring his own money into the project. When he ran out of money as well, he needed to stop filming for months at a time to raise money, mostly by taking part in other productions. Because of lack of funds, production was stopped at least three times. The film found some imaginative solutions to a range of logistical problems; the scene in which Roderigo is murdered in a Turkish bath was shot in that form because the original costumes were impounded and using replacements would have meant a delay. 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 roles, such as in ''
The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), ...
'' (1949), to help finance the film, but this often involved pausing filming for several months while he went off to raise money; and these pauses were further complicated by the shifting availability of different actors, which meant that some key parts (like Desdemona) had to be recast, and whole scenes then reshot. This lengthy shoot is detailed in
Micheál MacLiammóir Micheal is a masculine given name. It is sometimes an anglicized form of the Irish names Micheál, Mícheál and Michéal; or the Scottish Gaelic name Mìcheal. It is also a spelling variant of the common masculine given name '' Michael'', and is ...
's book ''Put Money in Thy Purse.'' When Welles acted in the 1950 film ''
The Black Rose ''The Black Rose'' is a 1950 American-British adventure film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. Talbot Jennings' screenplay was loosely based on a 1945 novel of the same name by Canadian author Thomas B. C ...
'', he insisted that the coat his character, Bayan, wore be lined with mink, even though it would not be visible. Despite the expense, the producers agreed to his request. At the end of filming, the coat disappeared, but could subsequently be seen in ''Othello'' with the fur lining exposed. Welles was reportedly extremely satisfied with the film's musical score by
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (22 February 1909 – 21 August 1987) was an Italian composer, born in Genoa. He is best known for scoring many films, including '' Legend of the Lost'', '' Conspiracy of Hearts'', '' Gorgo'', '' The Legion's Last Patro ...
, and Lavagnino again provided the musical scores of Welles' two subsequent Shakespearean films, ''
Chimes at Midnight ''Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight)'' ( Spanish: ''Campanadas a medianoche'') is a 1966 period comedy-drama film directed by and starring Orson Welles. The Spanish-Swiss co-production was released in the United States as ''Chimes at Midnight'' an ...
'' (1965) and ''
The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...
'' (1969).


Cast in order of appearance

*
Micheál Mac Liammóir Micheál Mac Liammóir (born Alfred Willmore; 25 October 1899 – 6 March 1978) was an actor, designer, dramatist, writer and impresario in 20th-century Ireland. Though born in London to an English family with no Irish connections, he emigrated ...
as Iago *
Suzanne Cloutier Suzanne Cloutier (July 10, 1923 – December 2, 2003) was a Canadian film actress. Biography Daughter of Edmond Cloutier, the King's Printer in Ottawa, Suzanne Cloutier escaped an early unconsummated marriage to become an actress, first with Ch ...
as Desdemona *
Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
as Othello *
Robert Coote Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of ''My Fai ...
as Roderigo *
Hilton Edwards Hilton Edwards (2 February 1903 – 18 November 1982) was an English-born Irish actor, lighting designer and theatrical producer. He co-founded the Gate Theatre with his partner Micheál Mac Liammóir and two others, and has been referred to as ...
as Brabantio * Michael Laurence as Cassio *
Fay Compton Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie, (; 18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978), known professionally as Fay Compton, was an English actress. She appeared in several films, and made many broadcasts, but was best known for her stage per ...
as Emilia * Nicholas Bruce as Lodovico * Jean Davisas Montana *
Doris Dowling Doris Dowling (May 15, 1923 – June 18, 2004) was an American actress of film, stage and television. Best known for the films ''The Crimson Key'' (1946) and ''Bitter Rice'' (1949). Also known for playing Irene Adams on ''My Living Doll'' (196 ...
as Bianca


Release

A dubbed version of ''Othello'' premiered in Rome, Italy on 29 November 1951. Welles' original English-language version premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
on 10 May 1952, and went on general release in Europe. Unlike that of the subsequent American cut, the soundtrack was generally without flaws, apart from some dubbing that was slightly out of sync. It features different edits of many scenes from the other two versions, with alternative camera angles used. A print remains stored in the Paris Cinematheque. Welles supervised a different version of ''Othello'' for the American market, a 93-minute cut released on 12 September 1955 in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. This had a number of minor editing and several major soundtrack changes, including Welles' replacement of his spoken-word titles with written credits (requested by the film's distributor,
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
) and the addition of a narration by Welles.
Suzanne Cloutier Suzanne Cloutier (July 10, 1923 – December 2, 2003) was a Canadian film actress. Biography Daughter of Edmond Cloutier, the King's Printer in Ottawa, Suzanne Cloutier escaped an early unconsummated marriage to become an actress, first with Ch ...
's entire performance was dubbed by
Gudrun Ure Gudrun Ure (born 12 March 1926) is a Scottish actress, most famous for her portrayal of the title character in '' Super Gran''. Biography Ure was born in Campsie, Stirlingshire. She starred in Orson Welles' 1951 stage production of ''Othel ...
, who had previously played Desdemona opposite Welles in a 1951 theatre production of ''Othello'' that was staged to raise funds to complete the film. Paul Squitieri, in a 1993 PhD study of the film in its various forms, argues that the U.S. version represents a "compromise", with some of the changes forced on Welles, and that the original European cut represents the truest version. A Criterion
LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
of this version came out in 1994, but was withdrawn from sale after legal action by Welles' daughter, Beatrice Welles. Welles featured ''Othello'' clips in his 1978 "making of" movie, ''
Filming Othello ''Filming Othello'' is a 1978 documentary film directed by and starring Orson Welles about the making of his award-winning 1951 production '' Othello''. The film, which was produced for West German television, was the last completed feature film d ...
'', but in fact these had all been completely reedited by him for the documentary, and so do not appear in the original film in the same form. The clips were all accompanied by a voice-over from Welles, so that no part of the original soundtrack was heard in ''Filming Othello''.


Reception

Released in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
to acclaim in 1952, ''Othello'' won the ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film''The ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' was the original award granted by the Cannes Film Festival during its early years. ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' changed its name to ''
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
'' in 1955.
at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
under the Moroccan flag. Welles could not find the film a distributor in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for over three years, and even after its U.S. release it was largely ignored. The film was re-released to theaters in a 1992 restoration that screened " out of competition" at the
1992 Cannes Film Festival The 45th Cannes Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 May 1992. The Palme d'Or went to the ''Den goda viljan'' by Bille August. The festival opened with ''Basic Instinct'', directed by Paul Verhoeven and closed with ''Far and Away'', directed by Ro ...
and was shown to acclaim in the United States although the sound restoration would subsequently be criticized. The film has a 93% approval rating on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 32 reviews with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus states, "This ragged take on Othello may take liberties with the source material, but Orson Welles's genius never fails to impress."


1992 restoration

In 1992, Beatrice Welles-Smith, daughter of Orson Welles, supervised a restoration of the film, which saw over $1,000,000 spent on improving the picture quality, resynchronizing the audio, adding extra sound effects, and completely rerecording the music in stereo. Although the restoration was greeted with positive reviews upon its release, it subsequently came under attack for numerous technical flaws and alterations. Further alterations were made between the restoration's theatrical release and its home media release, after complaints that the opening scene lacked the Gregorian chanting it had previously had, and another scene was missing entirely. This is the only version which has been available on VHS and DVD since the mid-1990s, since legal action by Beatrice Welles has blocked either version released by Orson Welles from being sold. This version runs to 91 minutes. Multiple film historians criticized the restoration work.
Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
argued that numerous changes were made against Welles' intent and that the restoration was incompetent, having used as its source an original distribution print with a flawed soundtrack. In fact, the visual elements of the 1992 restoration utilized a fine-grain master positive — discovered in a storage facility in New Jersey — as its source, not a distribution print. The audio came from a distribution print that was resynchronized, virtually syllable by syllable, by the restoration team to match the master positive. As some voice parts had music underneath, the newly recorded music and effects track had to match whatever music was underneath the dialogue, leading to inconsistencies. The flaw in the American cut's soundtrack is how
white noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used, with this or similar meanings, in many scientific and technical disciplines, ...
is audible in the background throughout dialogue and music, but that the noise cuts out when there is no action—meaning the white noise is more noticeable whenever it returns. The restoration sought to minimize this problem, but it is still present in places. By contrast, the white noise problem is not present to begin with in Welles' original 1952 European cut. Rosenbaum makes several charges of incompetence on the restoration team's part, including that the restoration team were unaware of the European cut's existence, and instead based their work on the American cut which was farther from Welles' original vision. The team recut the order of entire scenes to make the dialogue match. One scene was inexplicably missing from the cinema release, but restored for the video/DVD release. The opening scene, in cinema release, was lacking the important Gregorian chanting, but this was restored for the DVD. The soundtrack attracted particular criticism. Instead of consulting the papers of composer
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (22 February 1909 – 21 August 1987) was an Italian composer, born in Genoa. He is best known for scoring many films, including '' Legend of the Lost'', '' Conspiracy of Hearts'', '' Gorgo'', '' The Legion's Last Patro ...
, where a full copy of the score survives, the restorers chose to transcribe the music from the poor-quality audio of the print they had, with numerous mistakes having been made — Lavagnino's son has gone so far as to argue the new score is so different it is no longer his father's work. The new score was also recorded with arguably less impressive resources than the original version—although Welles only used a single microphone for a
monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...
soundtrack, he had forty mandolins playing in his version, while the new stereo soundtrack used three. Further, Rosenbaum states that by refusing to give permission for her father's version to be shown or released, Beatrice Welles "effectively made her father’s version of the film (as well as, more indirectly, his final feature, ''
Filming Othello ''Filming Othello'' is a 1978 documentary film directed by and starring Orson Welles about the making of his award-winning 1951 production '' Othello''. The film, which was produced for West German television, was the last completed feature film d ...
'') illegal, so that she can make more money on her own version", since she only receives royalties on the version which she restored. Many of these criticisms have been subsequently echoed by other scholars such as David Impastato and Michael Anderegg. Anderegg particularly criticizes the bold claims made by the restorers at the time of the film's 1992 release, including Beatrice Welles' statements "This is a film that no one has seen", that it was a "lost film", and that it was "never given a theatrical release" (all of which are untrue), and he dismisses as hyperbolic the judgment of film restorer Michael Dawson that Welles' original dubbing was like "Japanese sci-fi." Instead, Anderegg argues that ''Othello'' was simply seldom screened. Jonathan Rosenbaum has defended the out-of-synchronization dubbing of some lines in Welles' original version, pointing out it was typical of European films of the early 1950s, and likening modern attempts to resynchronize it to the proposed colorisation of ''
Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
''. In 2014 Carlotta Films U.S. released a 2K digital restoration of the 1992 version on D.C.P. This digital version premiered in Dallas at the 2014
USA Film Festival The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, and subsequently played in other cities on the art-house circuit. ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' reported that the monaural soundtrack was a great improvement on the previous version of the restoration — "much more appropriate for a low-budget, black-and-white 1952 release."


Home media

On September 26, 2017,
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
released both the European and 1955 US versions of ''Othello'' on Blu-ray and DVD. Special features include the short film '' Return to Glennascaul'' (1951); audio commentary by Peter Bogdanovich and Myron Meisel; and interviews with Simon Callow, Joseph McBride, François Thomas and Ayanna Thompson.


See also

*
List of films shot over three or more years This is a list of films shot over three or more years. The list excludes projects comprising individual films not shot over a long period, such as the '' Up'' series, ''The Children of Golzow'', or the ''Harry Potter'' series. ''The Other Side ...


Notes


References


External links

* *
''Othello: In Pieces''
an essay by
Geoffrey O’Brien Geoffrey O'Brien (born 1948 New York City, New York) is an American poet, editor, book and film critic, translator, and cultural historian. In 1992, he joined the staff of the Library of America as executive editor, becoming editor-in-chief in 19 ...
at the
Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
{{Authority control 1951 films 1951 drama films American drama films Films directed by Orson Welles Films with screenplays by Orson Welles Films based on Othello American black-and-white films Blackface minstrel shows and films Films set in the 16th century Films set in Venice Films set in Cyprus Palme d'Or winners Films shot at Scalera Studios Films scored by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino 1950s English-language films 1950s American films Blackface theatre