Othello

Othello (1965)

The greatest Othello ever by the greatest actor of our time

General Othello's marriage is destroyed when vengeful Ensign Iago convinces him that his new wife has been unfaithful.

Date of release
1965-12-15
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (30)
Runtime
2h 45m
Genres
Drama
Director
Stuart Burge

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 4

Othello is a 1965 film based on the National Theatre Company's staging of Shakespeare's Othello (1964–1966) staged by John Dexter. Directed by Stuart Burge, the film stars Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, and Frank Finlay, who all received Oscar nominations, and provided film debuts for both Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon.

Background

The film retains most of Shakespeare's original play, and does not change the order of scenes, as do Olivier's Hamlet and Richard III. The only major omission is the Fool's scene, although other minor lines are cut here and there, though the stage version contained more of the play than the film.

The film of Othello used enlarged duplicates of the original stage settings, rather than having elaborate new sets built. Olivier's former backers for his Shakespeare films were all deceased by 1965, and he was unable to raise the money to do a film version on location or on elaborate sets.

Of all Olivier's Shakespeare films, Othello is the one with the least music. Iago and the soldiers sing a drinking song in one scene, and in another, musicians are seen playing briefly on exotic instruments, but, otherwise, the film has no music.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended