Othello (1965)
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | Othello |
Original title | Othello |
Country of production | United Kingdom |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1965 |
length | 165 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 12 |
Rod | |
Director | Stuart Burge |
production | Anthony Havelock-Allan |
music | Richard Hampton |
camera | Geoffrey Unsworth |
cut | Richard Marden |
occupation | |
|
Othello is a 1965 film based on a National Theater Company (1964–1966) production of Shakespeare's Othello by John Dexter . It was directed by Stuart Burge and cast by Laurence Olivier , Maggie Smith , Joyce Redman and Frank Finlay , all of whom received an Academy Award nomination for the film. Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon made their debut in the film. The film was released on December 15, 1965 as a 35mm film in US cinemas. On May 2, 1966 the Royal Premiere was in London and the following day the film was in all British cinemas.
background
The film largely sticks to the original Shakespeare play. It also maintains the order of the scenes. Only in the fool scene is there a larger deviation. Some subplots have also been left out.
Enlarged stage sets from the original theater production were used for the film. The donors who had supported previous Shakespeare films starring Laurence Olivier had died in 1965. That is why there was no money for complex sets or filming on site. In 1955 Olivier wanted to make a film version of Macbeth, but was unsuccessful. The National Theater Company had already produced a film adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1963) and is also producing Strindberg's The Dance of Death (1969). The Othello with Olivier was the first English-language film adaptation in color. In 1955 there was already a Russian color film. It was the second major film adaptation after Orson Welles (1952).
Of all Olivier's Shakespeare films, it is the one with the least music. Jago and the other soldiers are singing a drinking song in the scene, and another one shows musicians playing exotic instruments.
reception
Olivier played the Othello with blackface . In addition, Oliver spoke an exotic accent in a deep voice and developed a special walk. Columnist Inez Robb disparagingly compared the performance to Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer . Film critic Pauline Kael wrote one of her most ardent reviews of the production and Oliver's portrayal. She said the big studios should be ashamed that they gave Olivier so little money for the production that the audience had to be content with a filmed stage production. John Simon did not agree with the interpretation of the film.
Otello was the only Shakespeare film in which all leading roles were nominated for an Academy Award. Finlay (Jago) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, although he had 1,117 lines to speak and Olivier only 856. However, Olivier was three minutes longer than Finlay.
Awards (selection)
- 1966 - Oscar
- Best Actor Nomination for Laurence Olivier
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Frank Finlay
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Joyce Redman
- Best Supporting Actress nomination for Maggie Smith
- 1966 - Golden Globe Award
- Nomination for Best Foreign Film (United Kingdom)
- Nomination for Best Actress in a Drama for Maggie Smith
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Joyce Redman
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Frank Finlay
- 1967 - British Academy Film Award
- Nomination for Best Young Actor for Frank Finlay
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Anthony Davies "Macbeth" in Michael Dobson & Stanley Wells The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 271-75, 275
- ↑ Bosley Crowther : Minstrel Show Othello ; Radical Makeup Marks Olivier's interpretation . In: The New York Times . February 2, 1966. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ↑ Inside Oscar by Damien Boa and Mason Wiley, Ballantine Books, p. 383
- ^ Pauline Kael (1970) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . Marion Boyars Publishers
- ↑ Stanley Wells. Shakespeare in the Theater: An Anthology of Criticism .
Web links
- Othello in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Othello (1965) at Rotten Tomatoes (English)