A stunning film.
Othello - The Lost Masterpiece (1952)
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:19
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: This ragged take on Othello may take liberties with the source material, but Orson Welles' genius never fails to impress.
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Long believed lost, this is the newly restored masterpiece of Orson Welles' 1952 classic based on the famous William Shakespeare play. Also includes a special introduction by his daughter Beatrice... Long believed lost, this is the newly restored masterpiece of Orson Welles' 1952 classic based on the famous William Shakespeare play. Also includes a special introduction by his daughter Beatrice Welles-Smith. [More]
Starring: Orson Welles, Micheal MacLiammoir, Suzanne Cloutier, Robert Coote
Starring: Orson Welles, Micheal MacLiammoir, Suzanne Cloutier, Robert Coote, Fay Compton, Michael Laurence, Doris Dowling
Director: Orson Welles
Director: Orson Welles
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Reviews for Othello - The Lost Masterpiece
A marvelous, very un-stage-like and brisk adaptation that never compromises the spirit of its source.
The visual rhetoric is synchronised with the verbal imagery: they hit sensory overload together.
Welles genius behind the camera brings one of the Bard's darkest plays to life.
Individual scenes are in an unrestrainedly operatic bravura style, and while the film succeeds visually, it ultimately fails as drama.
For all the liberties taken with the play, Orson Welles's 1952 independent feature may well be the greatest Shakespeare film.
Othello has been filmed numerous times, but never with such extraordinary visual grace and power.
The text of the original play has been slashed to its bare bones, with bravura cinematography and editing also helping make this a taut, visceral experience.
Though made on the cheap, it has the rich arty look of an avant-garde Expressionist work that few big-budget films ever achieve so well.
There are flashes of brilliant suggestion in this tumbled, slurred, and helter-skelter film. But they add up to nothing substantial -- just a little Shakespeare and a lot of Welles.
Welles gives the Shakespeare classic a visceral punch that's often missing from theatrical adaptations.
Any film student who hasn't seen this film has not completed his education. And for the rest of us, this Othello is a fascinating film with moments of great power.
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