Othello (1965)

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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)

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anthony Davies "Macbeth" in Michael Dobson & Stanley Wells The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare , Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 271-75, 275
  2. ↑ Bosley Crowther : Minstrel Show Othello ; Radical Makeup Marks Olivier's interpretation . In: The New York Times . February 2, 1966. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  3. ↑ Inside Oscar by Damien Boa and Mason Wiley, Ballantine Books, p. 383
  4. ^ Pauline Kael (1970) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang . Marion Boyars Publishers
  5. ↑ Stanley Wells. Shakespeare in the Theater: An Anthology of Criticism .

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