Joe Morgenstern points out two films to be on the lookout for
In a just world, the entire Warners publicity department would be on Burbank's ramparts trumpeting the arrival of the first DVD version (at least the first one playable on North American players) of Laurence Olivier's revolutionary and magnificent "Othello."
When this film version of the now-legendary production of the National Theater of Great Britain opened here in 1966, I was Newsweek's movie critic, and I wrote of it: "Laurence Olivier has set 'Othello' free. He has emancipated him from acting conventions that made the Moor of Venice an eagle scout with special merit badges for probity and innocence, that sentimentalized him into the gentlest of warriors who did in Desdemona only because of Iago's beastliness."
I went on to describe Olivier's athletic, ebony-skinned Othello -- yes, the actor defied political correctness by doing the film in blackface -- as a dangerous fool, even a monster. Since then, the film has been available here, if at all, only via VHS tape.
Now, on this pristine new DVD, Olivier's enormous portrayal is as heartbreaking as it is daring, partly because Frank Finlay's Iago is such a vivid model of modern malignity, and because Maggie Smith's Desdemona is so lovely. In this age of effortless celebrity we cheapen the currency of compliments by bestowing them too often. Olivier's "Othello" reminds us what it means for a performance to be great.
Recently I tracked down another relatively new and triumphant rendering of Shakespeare's material on DVD: Orson Welles as "Falstaff," a 1965 feature film, directed by Welles, which has also been known, mostly in Europe, as "Chimes at Midnight." I say 'Shakespeare's material' because the Bard scattered Falstaff's immortal remains throughout four separate plays. Welles, undeterred, pulled them together into a single film of operatic excess, bacchic camaraderie and, at its time, the greatest battle scenes since Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky." (The cast includes Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet, Margaret Rutherford as Mistress Quickly, John Gielgud as Henry IV and Keith Baxter as Prince Hal.)
Netflix has several versions of Verdi's opera "Falstaff," but the only digital version of Welles's "Falstaff" that I could find for use on North American (Region 1) players was via Amazon. The DVDs, imported from Brazil, aren't cheap -- I paid almost $40 -- and the quality isn't wonderful. Then again, neither was the quality of the original, which was underfinanced and problem-plagued throughout its sporadic production. No matter. The performance, and the achievement, are intact. "Citizen Kane" wasn't Welles's only masterpiece.
[From Morgenstern on Movies - WSJ.com]
I've heard/read plenty about both of these classic films over the years, now I just have to find copies.
Good afternoon, Seth. I believe I saw Welles' film before but it could be a midsummer night's dream.
You've convinced me. My teen will like that for his birthday.