When a secret marriage is planned between Othello, a Moorish general, and Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio, her old suitor Roderigo takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago, who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful.
10 Dec Othello (1951)
Dimensional Filmmaking
Commenting on Shakespeare films is rather like admiring Easter Eggs.
First the inside: this was never a great play, relative to Shakespeare’s other works. His great plays are about ideas, with characters as vectors to prod and activate them. This play is merely about characters, which makes it attractive to actors. That’s certainly why Welles selected it.
Welles is the Sinatra of dramatic reading, with phrasing mastered in his radio days. All else is acceptable (at least to my tastes) so far as the play goes.
Now the shell, and here is what makes this film one of the most important. When Welles moved into film, he did so as an architect. He understood that great film constructs a space that includes the audience. So he worked with the most direct tools, buildings themselves. These sets are remarkable. I cannot imagine how he found them, how he could have seen the possibilities.
Selection aside, how he uses the spaces! View this film at least once in silence. I rate Welles as one of the 20th century’s great architects and predict that this film will be mined when we get around to really creating cyberbuilding.
Posted in 2000
Ted’s Evaluation — 4 of 3: Every cineliterate person should experience this.
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