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Bookmark this pageOthello (1965)
Director: Stuart Burge
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Fortunately, Shakespeare's most compressed, most domestic tragedy is here not 'opened out', but kept in its place as a claustrophobic chamber piece. But the basic, very evident fault of the film lies in its initial conception: an apparent desire simply to record Olivier's justly famous stage performance (at the National Theatre, directed by John Dexter). His bravura 'school of semaphore' style will not translate to a subtler, less literary medium, and comes across as such gross hamming as to leave a lingering impression of Othello as some demented nigger minstrel. Yet further evidence (as if more were needed) of the fundamental differences between theatre and film. Great theatre performances need great critics; not some enthusiast with a camera and an eye for posterity. CPea.Author: CPea
Cast & crew
Director: Stuart Burge
Producer: Anthony Havelock-Allan, John Brabourne
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay, Joyce Redman, Derek Jacobi, Robert Lang, Kenneth Mackintosh, Anthony Nicholls, Sheila Reid, Michael Turner, Edward Hardwicke full cast
Duration: 166 mins
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