RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Othello - The Lost Masterpiece
Othello - The Lost Masterpiece

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Othello - The Lost Masterpiece (1952)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
90 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Aug 31, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Othello - The Lost Masterpiece

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Classic.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
06/20/03
Channel 4 Film

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.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/29/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The visual rhetoric is synchronised with the verbal imagery: they hit sensory overload together.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/18/08
Time Out

Welles genius behind the camera brings one of the Bard's darkest plays to life.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/18/08
Alan Morrison
Alan Morrison
Empire Magazine

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.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/12/05
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times

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.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Welles gives the Shakespeare classic a visceral punch that's often missing from theatrical adaptations.

comment Comment
09/24/03
Dan Lybarger
Dan Lybarger
Nitrate Online

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.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/24/05
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A marvelous, very un-stage-like and brisk adaptation that never compromises the spirit of its source.

Full Review Source: DVDLaser | comment Comment
06/18/08
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
DVDLaser

Individual scenes are in an unrestrainedly operatic bravura style, and while the film succeeds visually, it ultimately fails as drama.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
06/18/08
Elliott Stein
Elliott Stein
Village Voice

No review available.

comment Comment
08/27/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Noir drama without the usual suspects...dark, macabre and delightfully done.

comment Comment
10/17/03
Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt
Blunt Review

No review available.

comment Comment
06/14/04
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

One of the filmmaker's great masterpieces.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
04/06/07
Henry Sheehan
Henry Sheehan
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A stunning film.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
09/26/08
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

For all the liberties taken with the play, Orson Welles's 1952 independent feature may well be the greatest Shakespeare film.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
04/06/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Othello has been filmed numerous times, but never with such extraordinary visual grace and power.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/06/06
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A folly perhaps, but a grand one.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
04/06/07
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

From its opening shots, where the camera looks down on a solemn funeral procession, Othello exhibits Welles' flair for dramatic compositions.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Low-budget but visually stunning.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
06/18/08
Steve Simels
Steve Simels
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Othello - The Lost Masterpiece

December 06, 2005: Rob Schneider Weighs in on the Ethnic Casting Debate
In classic Rob Schneider fashion, Rob Schneider has penned an open letter to the New York Times defending his one-eyed, pidgin-spouting Tongan character in "50 First... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
54
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
128
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
182
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
92
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
82
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
81
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
70
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
45
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
33
  • RT's Blu-ray Picks from WB
22
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
19
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Othello - The Lost Masterpiece at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.