Othello | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Stuart Burge |
Written by | William Shakespeare |
Produced by | Anthony Havelock-Allan John Brabourne |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
Edited by | Richard Marden |
Music by | Richard Hampton |
Production companies | BHE Films National Theatre of Great Britain |
Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Films (UK) Warner Bros. (US) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 165 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Othello is a 1965 film based on the National Theatre Company's staging of Shakespeare's Othello (1964-1966) staged by John Dexter. Directed by Stuart Burge, the film stars Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, and Frank Finlay, who all received Oscar nominations, and provided film debuts for both Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon.
The film retains most of Shakespeare's original play, and does not change the order of scenes, as do Olivier's Hamlet and Richard III . The only major omission is the Fool's scene, although other minor lines are cut here and there, though the stage version contained more of the play than the film. Derek Jacobi (Cassio) and Michael Gambon made their film debuts in Othello, while Edward Hardwicke (Montano) would go on to work with the National for seven years.
The film of Othello used enlarged duplicates of the original stage settings, rather than having elaborate new sets built. Olivier's former backers for his Shakespeare films were all deceased by 1965, and he was unable to raise the money to do a film version on location or on elaborate sets. Nearly a decade earlier, Olivier had been attempting to find financial backing for his own film version of Macbeth after he performed the role in 1955 at Stratford, but ultimately without success. [1] The National Theatre Company had already produced a staged film of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1963) and would later produce Strindberg's The Dance of Death (1969). The Olivier Othello is the first English-language filmed version of the play made in colour (there had been a Russian version in colour in 1955) and widescreen. It was the second major film adaption of the work after a production in 1952 by Orson Welles. In the U.S., it did not play the usual several-week run given to most films; instead, it played for only two days. [2] The film was exhibited as a roadshow presentation. [2]
Of all Olivier's Shakespeare films, Othello is the one with the least music. Iago and the soldiers sing a drinking song in one scene, and in another, musicians are seen playing briefly on exotic instruments, but, otherwise, the film has no music.
Olivier played Othello in blackface, adopting an accent and walk of his own invention. Columnist Inez Robb disparagingly compared Olivier's performance to Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer . She described Olivier's performance as "high camp", and said "I was certainly in tune with the gentleman sitting next to me who kept asking 'When does he sing Mammy ?" [3] Film critic Pauline Kael gave the production and Olivier's portrayal one of her most glowing reviews, shaming the major movie studios for giving Olivier so little money to make the film that he and the public had to be content with what was almost literally a filmed stage production, while other films received multimillion dollar budgets. [4] John Simon, while disagreeing with the approach the production's interpretation took, declared that, "Olivier plays this misconceived Othello spectacularly, in a manner that is always a perverse joy to behold". [5]
One particular thing which has caused distinctive amounts of offense, and a device which primarily works in film rather than on-stage[ original research? ], was Olivier's rolling of his eyes: a mannerism often shown in early depictions of black people in blackface films. This device specifically links to Al Jolson and is unconnected to any Shakespearean-era stage direction. [6]
It remains the only Shakespeare film in which all the principals were nominated for Oscars. Finlay (Iago) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor despite having the role with the most lines in the play: 1117 to Olivier's 856. Olivier does, however, appear on screen three minutes longer than Finlay.[ citation needed ]
In 2021 music professor Bright Sheng stepped down from teaching a University of Michigan undergraduate musical composition class, where he says he had intended to show how Giuseppe Verdi adapted William Shakespeare's play Othello into his opera Otello , after a controversy over his showing the movie, allegedly without giving students a warning that it contained blackface. [7]
Othello is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, around 1603. The story revolves around two characters, Othello and Iago.
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Sir Michael John Gambon was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards and four BAFTA TV Awards. In 1998, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama.
Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Iago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello. 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 Othello and devises a plan to destroy him by making him believe that Desdemona is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio.
Desdemona is a character in William Shakespeare's play Othello. Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian military prodigy. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago into believing she is an adulteress, and, in the last act, she is murdered by her estranged spouse.
Francis Finlay, was an English actor. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Iago in Othello (1965). In 1983, he was directed by Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass in the erotic classic The Key, with Stefania Sandrelli. His first leading television role came in 1971 in Casanova. This led to appearances on The Morecambe and Wise Show. He also appeared in the drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
Othello 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 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.
Othello is a 1995 drama film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was directed by Oliver Parker and stars Laurence Fishburne as Othello, Irène Jacob as Desdemona, and Kenneth Branagh as Iago. This is the first cinematic reproduction of the play released by a major studio that casts an African American actor to play the role of Othello, although low-budget independent films of the play starring Ted Lange and Yaphet Kotto predated it.
Emilia is a character in the tragedy Othello by William Shakespeare. She is married to Othello's ensign Iago, and is a maidservant to Othello's wife, Desdemona.
Michael Cassio, or simply Cassio, is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Othello. The source of the character is the 1565 tale "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio; Cassio is unnamed in Cinthio but referred to as "the squadron leader". In the play, Cassio is a young and handsome lieutenant under Othello's command who becomes one of Iago's several victims in a plot to ruin Othello.
Bianca is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Othello (c. 1601–1604). She is Cassio's jealous lover. Despite her brief appearance on stage, Bianca plays a significant role in the progress of Iago's scheme to make Othello believe that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him with Cassio.
Othello is a character in Shakespeare's Othello. The character's origin is traced to the tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio. There, he is simply referred to as the Moor.
Roderigo is a fictional character in Shakespeare's 1604 play Othello. Roderigo, a wealthy Venetian, is manipulated into funding the antagonist Iago's machinations in the belief that Iago will aid him in courting Othello's wife Desdemona. In the later stages of the play, Iago recruits Roderigo in hopes of assassinating Othello's former lieutenant Michael Cassio, though when he fails and is injured in this attempt, he is murdered by Iago in retaliation.
Catch My Soul is a rock musical produced by Jack Good, loosely adapted from Shakespeare's Othello. The character of Iago had originally been played by Jerry Lee Lewis in the US production which had closed in 1968. The UK production of the show was a showcase for the talents of Lance LeGault, P. P. Arnold, P.J. Proby and an introduction to the rock musician Robert Tench with the band Gass.
Othello is a 1990 film produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Ian McKellen, Willard White, Imogen Stubbs, and Zoë Wanamaker. It is based on a stage production of William Shakespeare's play Othello, directed by Trevor Nunn, and later rethought for TV and filmed in a studio. It was shot in a black box theater, so minimal props or scenery were needed, and aired 23 June 1990 on Theatre Night.
In addition to its appearance in the theatre, the character of Othello from the tragic play by William Shakespeare has appeared in many examples in art and culture since being authored by Shakespeare in the early 16th century.
Othello is Liz White's 1980 dramatic adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. An all black cast and crew, including actor Yaphet Kotto, created the film.
"Othello" is a 1964 Australian television play based on the play by William Shakespeare. It was broadcast on the ABC as part of Wednesday Theatre and filmed in ABC's Melbourne studios. It aired on 18 November 1964 in Melbourne, on 3 February 1965 in Sydney, and on 7 July 1965 in Brisbane.
National Theatre Live: 50 Years On Stage is a 2013 live staged event film directed by Nicholas Hytner. Shown in theatres and on PBS and National Theatre Live. The program is presented by The Royal National Theatre which celebrates 50 years of theatre, with some extracts of the best productions from the last five decades including Alan Bennett, Noël Coward, David Hare, Tony Kushner, Eugene O'Neill, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Tom Stoppard, and Tennessee Williams performed by the countries best performers including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Scott, Penelope Wilton, Simon Russell Beale, Frances de la Tour, Ian Holm, Derek Jacobi, and Joan Plowright.