By RAY KELLY
When Olive Films Signature Edition released Orson Welles’ Macbeth on Blu-ray last fall with two versions of the movie, footage from a 1936 stage production and a slew of extras featuring the sharpest scholars, it was doubtful Wellesians would see something of that caliber again so soon.
On October 10, The Criterion Collection releases Othello, another Shakespearean effort by Welles, which is now the standard by which future home video releases will be judged. Criterion has expertly restored the 1952 and 1955 versions of the movie and delivered a mother lode of exceptional extras, including Welles’ last completed project, Filming Othello.
Othello was previously the subject of a 1992 restoration by Michael Dawson, Julian Schlossberg and Beatrice Welles, the filmmaker’s youngest daughter. While it came under fire in some quarters for the decision to create a stereo soundtrack and undertake other editorial changes, the restored Othello was lauded by most critics upon its release and reintroduced the film to audiences.
Criterion, which acquired the rights to Othello from Beatrice Welles, has ignored the 1992 restoration and stereo soundtrack created for that release.
Instead, Criterion has released a two-disc set featuring brand new 4K restorations of the 1952 European release, winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and Welles’ reedited and redubbed 1955 version for release in the United States and United Kingdom. Both are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 with optional English SDH subtitles.
For the restoration of the 1952 release, Criterion scanned a 35mm fine-grain master positive with a running time of 93 minutes and 31 seconds. A 35mm original camera negative was the source of the restoration of the 1955 release, which runs 90 minutes and 59 seconds. In both cases, dirt, debris, scratches and splices were manually removed. The monaural soundtracks for both were remastered from composite fine-grain prints. The 1955 release is accompanied by an audio commentary recorded in 1994 by Peter Bogdanovich and Myron Meisel for Criterion’s laser disc release of Othello.
DVD Beaver and Blu-ray.com have already done their typically thorough job detailing the technical side of this release, and their verdict is quite correct: The 1952 version is clearly a notch better in visual quality with a richer image than the 1955 release. However, the biggest difference between the two versions comes not from the difference in visual quality or Welles’ edits, but his decision to have Suzanne Cloutier’s performance as Desdemona dubbed by Gudrun Ure for the 1955 release. Ure’s take on Desdemona is far more forceful in tone than the demure performance given by Cloutier, particularly during Desdemona’s final on-screen minutes. (Ure played Desdemona opposite Welles in his London stage production of Othello in 1951.)
Having superb representations of the 1952 and 1955 versions of Othello on the same disc would be reason enough for fans to buy this two-disc set, but Criterion has outdone itself with a second disc packed with four hours of exceptional extras. They include:
- Filming Othello, now finally available on home video. Welles’ last completed movie comes to Criterion courtesy of his longtime companion Oja Kodar with original film elements restored by the Munich Film Museum. The 2K scan of the 16mm film shot by Gary Graver is glorious, especially for those who have only seen pirated VHS dubs of the film essay, which premiered at the 1978 Berlin Film Festival.
The 83-minute documentary includes Welles’ recollections of the three-year shoot in Morocco and Italy, a chat with co-stars Micheal MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards filmed in Paris in 1974, and a conversation with an audience in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1977. Several silent, reedited scenes from Othello are shown, though they pale in comparison to the quality of the restored versions contained on the first disc of the Criterion release.
Filming Othello was conceived as a short by producers Juergen and Klaus Hellwig, who had arranged for a showing of Othello on West German TV. Instead, Welles delivered a feature-length film essay. Filming Othello has been accurately described as static, but with Welles on center stage it is never dull. - Return to Glennascaul, the 1951 Oscar-nominated short film co-starring Welles and made by MacLiammóir and Edwards during a hiatus from shooting Othello is also included. It was marketed as Orson Welles’ Ghost Story on home video in 1992 with an introduction by Bogdanovich. The pleasant, but lightweight short is accompanied by the Bogdanovich introduction.
- In a new 22-minute interview, English actor and Welles biographer Simon Callow chronicles the history of Othello from Welles’ initial plans to shoot the film with Lea Padovani as Desdemona and the Mercury Theatre’s Everett Sloane as Iago to the ups and downs of the three-year shoot, which Callow describes as the “great escapade.”
He delves into Welles’ working relationship with MacLiammóir and Edwards. Callow, a master storyteller, errs from time to time, like referring to Filming Othello as “never fully completed” and shot prior 1968. Filming Othello, Welles’ last completed movie, was filmed between 1974 and 1978. At another point, Callow repeats Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s assertion that Welles wanted MacLiammóir to play Henry IV in the 1960 stage production of Chimes at Midnight, but MacLiammóir eyed the role of young Prince Hal, adding that MacLiammóir was 50 years old. In fact, MacLiammóir was 60 years old at the time. - The differences between the 1952 European release of Othello and the 1955 U.S. version are detailed in a new 18-minute interview with François Thomas, co-author of Orson Welles at Work. The removal of the spoken credits is clearly noticeable to casual viewers, and Thomas details other seemingly slight, but nevertheless important changes made by Welles. He convincingly argues how Welles’ decision to have Ure dub Cloutier’s performance as Desdemona for the 1955 release subtly changed the personality of the female lead.
- A fascinating and insightful 21-minute talk by Ayanna Thompson, author of Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America, is a terrific bonus. Thompson looks at the history of the portrayal of the title character by white actors from the earliest productions to the present era. The issue of blackface and Welles’ use of black actors in his 1936 stage production of ”Voodoo” Macbeth are delved into in this highly engaging extra.
- Film historian Joseph McBride weighs in on Othello in a 32-minute overview taken from a slightly longer featurette he filmed for Robert Fischer and Fiction Factory in 2014. McBride, who worked with the late filmmaker of The Other Side of the Wind and other projects, is a walking talking encyclopedia on Welles and film. Welles’ decision to move to Europe during the era of the Hollywood blacklist, his financing of Othello and its place in the Welles canon are chronicled in detail. As always, McBride is generous in noting the work and contributions of other scholars.
- Souvenirs d’ Othello, a 1995 documentary on Cloutier by François Girard provides recollections by Desdemona herself. Filmed not long after the 1992 restoration of Othello, the 48-minute French and English language documentary finds the Canadian actress reflecting with deep admiration for Welles and his drive to complete Othello despite many obstacles. She called her participation in the film the highpoint of her life. She revealed that Welles considered returning to the U.S. and restarting the Mercury Theatre upon completing Othello, and she touched on her role in helping Welles secure Iranian financing for The Other Side of the Wind.
- The Criterion release also contains a well-researched essay by film critic and Library in America editor-in-chief Geoffrey O’Brien, which manages to touch upon almost every aspect of the production.
The Criterion Collection release of Othello is available on Blu-ray with a suggested list price of $49.95 and on DVD for $39.95. The two-disc sets can be found at discounted prices on the websites of several online retailers.
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