Every once in a while you see one of those movies that make you go DAMN!! and it's even cooler when you're not expecting it. I just saw one and it was an adaptation of a Shakespearean tragedy where everybody lived! I've known about "All Night Long" for a long time. It's a 1961 British version of Othello set in the
jazz world, which is a very logical setting when you think about it, at a wedding anniversary party. I wanted to see it mainly because it had Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck, and Tubby Hayes playing in it. It all played out as usual with the Othello figure, a black bandleader strangling his wife and seemingly killing the Cassius figure by knocking him over a stair rail. The Iago figure, played by Patrick McGoohan, had been found out and was about to be strangled by "Othello" himself when all of a sudden the Desdemona figure, bruised and torn but not dead, pops up and screams "Stop!". Othello then stiffly examines his wife, goes back to Cassius who's also still breathing and being cradled by his girlfriend and begs his forgiveness. He then walks out into the night like a zombie with his wife calling his name and running after him. Remeber the year this was made, 1961. That was a tiime when interracial marriage was a taboo subject both in America and Britain and frowned uponby mainstream society, although it was an accpeted part of life in the jazz world. It made a far more powerful statement in that context for Othello and Desdemona's love to survive Iago's evil scheme. Added to that was the fact that "Cassius" is played by future Henry VIII, Keith Michell and that his girlfriend was black. The only white married couple in the movie are "Iago" and his wife who aren't exactly the pucture of happiness. She is the one who rats him out and at the end as "Iago", played brilliantly as a complete snake by Patrick McGoohan, sits alone after everyone else has left the party, mechanically playing his drums his wife comes to take him home and he spits out nothing but contempt and hatred for her and the entire world. When you talk about an interracial couple, especially in the Sixties, the "love conquers all" bit takes on much deeper meeaning. Having the leads survive may change Shakespeare but he never conceived of a world like the one this movie took place in. I don't even know the names of most of the actors in this picture, just McGoohan, Michell and Richard Attenborough, but it was amazing. That final shot of "Othello" and "Desdemona" walking along a pier in the night together destroyed me. Once again, alll I can say is DAMN!!
August 20, 2006
