The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Orson Welles

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

June 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Powerful drama of uncontrolled human emotion!

Plot:

Durante il periodo delle Repubbliche Marinare, in Italia, Otello, detto "il moro di Venezia", viene...

Plot Keywords:

Mistrust Of Wife | Directed By Star | Moor | Shakespeare's Othello | Interracial Romance

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

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

Also Known As:

Othello (Australia) (France) (USA)
Otello (Italy)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:93 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA | Italy | France | Morocco

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (re-release) | Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Italy:T | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 (1967) | Finland:S (1967) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Castle, El Jadida, Morocco

Company:

Mercury Productions

Trivia:

Welles had another actress, Gudrun Ure, dub all dialogue of Suzanne Cloutier.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: There was once in Venice a moor, Othello, who for his merits is the affairs of war was held in great esteem. It happened that he fell in love with a young and noble lady called Desdemona, who drawn by his virtue became equally enamoured of Othello...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Edge of Outside (2006)

Good but Flawed

Tragedy of Othello, The (1952)

*** (out of 4)

Orson Welles produced, wrote, directed and stars in the title role of this Shakespeare adaptation, which has had a mangled history over the years but I think in the end that the film works pretty well. I watched the "restored 1992" version of the movie and while I know there are two others versions out there I'm really not sure which would be the one to start with. While it's rather obvious that certain scenes were shot years apart from one another, that really doesn't take away from the entertainment value and it's easy to spot that this baby is Welles' from start to finish. The technical side of the film is quite brilliant considering the director was constantly running out of movie. The cinematography is top notch as is the editing and the overall visual style. Welles is very impressive in the lead but it's Michael MacLiammoir as Iago that steals the show.