Othello - Restored v. Laserdisc

[Fredric]

I was watching my Othello DVD last night and I noticed something. When Othello is arriving, by way of overtly fake miniature ship, everyone on the wall is saying their lines, and in the middle of all that, Iago runs up to someone and starts moving his mouth to something that isn't on the soundtrack. I think it happens twice. Is this an example of the restored version botching it? Or is this on the Criterion Laserdisc, too?

Can anyone give some specific examples of some differences? What would I notice if I popped in the LD? Is it a startling difference in quality, or is it something you'd have to look for?

[jaime marzol]

i have to voyager disc, which is the one great reason to hang on to my laser disc player. the original music is great. myron miesel's commentary is the best, most informative commentary on any welles product. it's too bad they didn't get meisel to do kane.

the restored othello, i found the rerecorded sountrack a bit antiseptic. the original is more barbaric. the image of the restored is not as edgy, it's softer. in the restored othello there is a shot of waves hitting the castle wall that is beautifull, in the laser it's washed out. in the 35mm print i saw that scene was wahed out. beatrice owns the sharp wave scene and not oja????? why not put both films together and make one good one?

the running times are the same of the 2 othellos. but i seem to remember seeing a version of othello that in the scene where iago is crossing the drinking party, the same piece of footage is used twice. perhaps this is part of a masquarade of not altering the playing times, while cutting footage from somewhere else.

was it the rerecorded othello that has the party scene footage used twice? i think it was.

i don't find the audio disturbing in the voyager othello. as i don't find it disturbing in the jap laser version of CHIMES.

perhaps being such a fan of offbeat films that can't afford good sound, has conditioned me to accept what a stalone fan would find unacceptable. i don't know.

[Fredric]

What about the voiceless Iago? Is he on the LD?

[Jeff Wilson]

The print that Beatrice Welles-Smith used to restore Othello is not the same print as the one on the Criterion LD, obviously; one of the problems with the restoration is that Beatrice's researchers didn't bother to do their homework in looking for a negative to restore. The negative used was found in New Jersey. What they failed to do was check two important sources, the Library of Congress and the International Federation of Film Archives. As it turns out, the Library of Congress held a print in better condition than the New Jersey print. But they never bothered to check on this. Their restoration efforts were thus limited to the quality of the print they found.

Also, when making prints for the restored version, they printed the negative to an interpositive and then to a positive screening print, thus adding another step to the process and stepping a further generation away from the negative. The preceding info comes from a 1992 article by David Impasato, titled "Orson Welles' Othello and the Welles-Smith Restoration: A Definitive Version?" in the Fall 1992 issue of Shakespeare Bulletin. Rosenbaum covered more of the problems in his essay "Othello Goes Hollywood," which is in one of his collections.



Edited By Jeff Wilson on Jan. 16 2002 at 19:46

[Rick Schmidlin]

The latest edition of Joe McBrides book also covers the botched restoration. This is why I had Jonathan watching over Walter, The Studio and ME.

[jaime marzol]

it certainly seemed like beatrice and oja were working from 2 different copies of othello. beatrice's copy is in better shape but not original to welles. oja's is in worse shape, but truer to welles; so it's like stepping up to the counter, asking for othello, and having the clerk ask, "Extra crispy, or original flavor?" "Well, original flavor, of course."

there is no comparing the two. even with the few washed out scenes the voyager/oja othello is hands down the one to get.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Agreed, the other just does not even count.

[jaime marzol]

also, the voyager OTHELLO has a kick ass supplement, and commentary track, great disc. i think of all the laser discs i've seen, the voyager OTHELLO supplement assembly is second only to the voyager THE PLAYER supplement assembly.

if any one has seen FILMING OTHELLO, the clips of the film welles used had an ethereal, incandescent quality; deep blacks, luminous whites, no grey. none of that exists in either OTHELLO that we have. the restorers probably went through great pains to make it look normal, and sucked some of the artistry out of it. like hendrix's first record, when they mastered it, they corrected the distortion. it had to be sent back to be redone, 'no, it's supposed to sound like that.'

rick:
you know about digital editing software, what controls would i tweak to get that incandescent look in the whites, lose the grey. would be cool to redo my OTHELLO to look like welles' othello.

also would redo my copy of wyler and toland, DEAD END. first time i saw it it looked like a painting, those beautifull whites, glowing! sensational. then i saw the reconstruction, and all that is gone. it now looks normal.

4 hours of film = 64 years of rendering in the computer, i would be dead by the time i finished.

i just remembered 2 other films that the artistry in the processing was sucked out, huston's AFRICAN QUEEN, and REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE. i saw the pastel version of AFRICAN QUEEN it made it to video tape, i rented it. This was before i had any intertest in films or had read any film books, i thought i messed up the tape. i left it in my car and thought i had cooked it.

MOULIN ROUGE survived though. i didn't like MOULIN ROUGE much though i do watch parts of it now and then because it does have some good things in it.

..........................

[jaime marzol]

i think the camera man is named ozzie morris, in huston documentary, he said when filming moulin rouge the technicolor people on the set were freaking out at how he was desecrating their process, and said they would not be responsible. huston confered with morris for a moment, decided they were on the right track, he turned to the technicolor people and said, "gentlemen, fuck you." what a character. imagine had he been wrong.

[Welles Fan]

I think the studios were also dismayed at the "washed out" look Huston was after in Moby Dick.

[jaime marzol]

huston's moby dick does look kind of messed up, i didn't know it was a special effect

[Rick Schmidlin]

rick:
you know about digital editing software, what controls would i tweak to get that incandescent look in the whites, lose the grey. would be cool to redo my OTHELLO to look like welles' othello.

There is a lasedisc and DVD by a fellow named Joe Kane who put out a home adjustment disc. Get a copy of this and you can get a great adjustment at home, really crush the blacks etc.

[jaime marzol]

i'm using adobe premiere, i think that would ne more advanced than the home adjustment disc, but will look into it, thanks.

i was surprised at how advanced premire is. it really has everything you need, provided you purchase a zillion dollars worth of plug-ins, and build a computer that can power it. i still have one or two changes to make and i think i will be where i need to be.

[Rick Schmidlin]

i will pass your question also to a tech friend who has his own shop. He will be able to give you info based on your needs. It may take a week so be patient.

[jaime marzol]

cool. thanks