Word: othellos
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Thus begins the Orson Welles version of Othello, with the joint funeral of the Moor and Desdemona, and the imaginative execution of Iago. The entire film is prefigured by this non-Shakespearean opening sequence: the sense of evil leading to tragic death, the theme of innocent beauty wronged, the symbolic imprisonment of man in a cage of passion...
...Othello offers a dark story and a brooding giant as its hero, and a perfect fit to the Welles genius. The music and the starkness of black-and-white photography are well used to add to the general effect. Organ and percussion set a perpetual sombre undertone, in the way the guitar background of Mr. Arkadin presented a leitmotif...
Shadows create the sense of gloom for the entire film, damping even a victory celebration. Darkness pervades the alleys where gleeful soldiers cavort with Cyprian women. The transition of Othello's mind from conscientious administrator to maddened husband is reflected in the darkening of the weather as the Moor's thoughts plummet...
Next spring she will play Desdemona to Sir Laurence Olivier's first Othello. Last January she was named the outstanding actress in the West End during 1962 for her part in Peter Shaffer's linked one-acters, The Private Ear and The Public...
...Servant plays morbid variations on the theme of Othello. Directed in Britain by Joseph Losey, an American who lives and works in Europe, the film tells how a sinister servant destroys his master by playing to his weakness for women...