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.

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

Different versions of the film

There are at least three different versions of the film, the first two of them supervised by Orson Welles:

• 1) The original cut which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 10 May 1952, and then went on general release in Europe. Unlike the later American cut, the soundtrack was generally without flaws, apart from some dubbing which was slightly out of sync. It features different edits of many scenes from the other two versions, with alternate camera angles used. This is now out of print, and the only domestic release was a 1990 French VHS cassette with French subtitles, as part of the "Palme d'or - Fil à film" series. This version ran to 92 minutes.
• 2) The cut for the American market, released on 12 September 1955 in New York. This had a number of minor editing changes and several major soundtrack changes, including Welles' replacement of his spoken-word titles with written titles (a change requested by the film's distributor United Artists), much of the cast's lines dubbed by Welles impersonating their voices, Suzanne Cloutier's entire performance dubbed by Gudrun Ure, and the addition of a narration by Welles. (Ure, who dubs Desdemona in this version, had previously played the role opposite Welles in a 1951 stage production of Othello which previewed for a week in Newcastle and then played in London for six weeks, to mixed reviews - a production that was staged to raise funds to complete the film.) However, unlike the original European print, the 1955 American cut suffered from a technically flawed soundtrack that was out-of-sync, and was undermined by a background hissing noise. Until the 1992 "restoration", this was the most widely seen edit of the film. This version is now out of print, and has only had one commercial release, through a 1995 Criterion Laserdisc edition. This version ran to 93 minutes. Legal action by Beatrice Welles (see below) led to the withdrawal of the 1995 Laserdisc, which is now a collector's item.
• 3) The "restored" version supervised by Beatrice Welles in 1992. Despite the crisper picture quality, this version has met with mixed reviews over various liberties taken with the soundtrack, and complaints about the elements used. (See below.) The restoration was based on a 1955 American print of the film. When the "restoration" was originally released in cinemas in 1992, it was missing a scene that had been cut from the source print used, although this was subsequently corrected for the DVD release. This is the version which has been widely available on VHS and DVD since the mid-1990s, since legal action by Beatrice Welles has blocked either version by Orson Welles from being sold. This version runs to 91 minutes.

Reception

Released in Europe to acclaim in 1952, the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, 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. 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 by using a European release print. 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. 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 Citizen Kane and 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).

As of 2011, the 1992 restoration is now out-of-print in the U.S., and can be found only in outlet stores, whilst the two versions by Welles remain unavailable.

External links

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