Отелло Орсона Уэллса (1951)

1951 film by Orson Welles

Othello (also known as The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice) is a 1951 tragedy directed and produced by Orson Welles, who also adapted the Shakespearean play and played the title role. Recipient of the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (precursory name for the Palme d'Or) at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival, the film was distributed by United Artists when it was released in the United States in 1955. Othello was filmed on location over a three year period in Morocco, Venice, Tuscany and Rome as well as at the Scalera Studios in Rome. In addition to Orson Welles, the cast consisted of Micheál Mac Liammóir as Iago (one of his only starring film roles), Robert Coote as Roderigo, Suzanne Cloutier as Desdemona, Michael Laurence as Cassio, Fay Compton as Emilia and Doris Dowling 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.

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, to a little over 90 minutes for the film. The opening funeral scene is not in the original play. The movie opens with Othello and Desdemona's funeral. The first main scene shows Iago's 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,” meaning Iago would rather be a baboon than kill himself over a woman. Iago further says "Put but money in thy purse" and urges 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 previously promoted Cassio to lieutenant over Iago, hence Iago's jealousy. Othello strangles Desdemona. Iago knifes Emilia to death as she protests Desdemona's innocence. Othello realises his mistake.

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. 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 (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's book Put Money in Thy Purse. When Welles acted in the 1950 film The Black Rose, 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, and Lavagnino again provided the musical scores of Welles' two subsequent Shakespearean films: Chimes at Midnight (1965) and The Merchant of Venice (1969).