By MIKE TEAL
The 1952 European cut of Orson Welles’ Othello has been uploaded to YouTube
In English with French subtitles, the poster “Alan Smithee,” says the source is a VHS tape recorded more than 30 years ago off of French channel A2. It has different edits than the 1955 U.S. version, which was the basis of the 1992 restoration undertaken by Beatrice Welles with Michael Dawson and Julian Schlossberg.
Although I enjoyed the 1992 restoration when it was first released, I was for many years in agreement with the argument, put forth by Welles scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum and others, that the 1955 reedit for American release, featured on the Criterion laserdisc, was the DEFINITIVE version of Othello.
However, the 1952 European cut has superior cutting near the beginning of the film, so much better to my mind that the 1955 re-edit seems almost like a botch job in comparison. The 1952 European cut also contains Suzanne Cloutier’s original voice as Desdemona, as opposed to Gudrun Ure’s voice. (She was Welles’ Desdemona on the London stage).
Cloutier’s voice sounds much more mousy, innocent and girlish then Ure’s, which somehow changes in subtle ways the whole dynamic of the relationship between Desdemona and Othello. Welles had considered Cecile Aubry for the role before Cloutier, so he was obviously going for some kind of gamine quality for the character, but he seems to have changed his mind once he saw the results.
As a result Welles wedded Cloutier’s face and figure to Ure’s sultrier, more classically trained voice and managed to come up with a great “composite” Desdemona.
If I remember correctly, Welles also beefed up some of his own line readings as well. So the definitive Welles Othello is a pretty subjective thing. When I saw the 1952 European cut – and stopped considering the Criterion laser disc of the 1955 version to be definitive – my opinion of the 1992 restoration began to rise again. (I had always admired it from a technical standpoint).
With the upcoming Criterion release of Othello reportedly containing the 1955 version and 1992 restoration, it would be best to include the 1952 version as well.
“Alan Smithee” has not allowed for the YouTube video to be embedded. You can watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7APPdIxEXg
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