A wonderful tale of revenge, betrayal, jealousy and racism seen through the eyes of Othello, Iago, Desdemona and Cassio, the film is based on a National Theatre production of the play. As it was made on a small budget, it is essentially a filmed stage play rather than the film adaptation of a play but that didn't bother me as the performances are brilliant - particularly those of Laurence Olivier and Frank Finlay - and Stuart Burge was a sufficiently talented director to make good use of the limited resources at his disposal.
Iago is one of the most fascinating Shakespearean characters that I have yet come across. An amoral and remorseless manipulator, he is able to deceive everyone with ease into thinking that he is a good and decent man. This is illustrated by the fact that all of the other character frequently praise him for his honesty and integrity, both in his presence and otherwise. He despises Othello for promoting Cassio over him and plots to destroy him by convincing him that his new bride Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. In a scheme worthy of Machiavelli himself, he subtly moves the pieces into place without tipping his hand, presenting himself as nothing more than a concerned bystander. Frank Finlay is excellent in the complicated role, delivering an extremely subtle performance. He never makes the mistake of going over the top and playing Iago in an obvious, cartoonishly villainous fashion. You can really believe why people would take Iago at his word as he seems trustworthy. Finlay also completely avoids overacting when Iago outlines his evil plans in his numerous soliloquies. One of the major reasons why I thought that Olivier's version of "Richard III" was a lesser adaptation was that he committed all of the mistakes that Finlay avoids here. Finlay was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Iago but, based on his screen time and the fact that he had the most lines, he would have really been nominated for Best Actor as Olivier was.
In what would obviously be unacceptable by today's standards, Olivier plays Othello in blackface as well as deepening his voice and putting on a strange accent. The use of blackface made me uncomfortable and it would have probably been better if they had not overdone the makeup. However, it is a testament to Olivier's great skill as an actor that he is never less than completely engrossing as the title character, particularly in the scenes in which he displays hysterical anger. Othello is another extremely interesting character. His race makes him an outsider in Venetian society and yet it also makes him an object of fascination to people, as his demonstrated by Othello's claim that Brabantio has often questioned him on his life and Brabantio's comment that these tales have won his daughter Desdemona for Othello as well. He has succeeded as a black man in a racist society and as such he is the subject of scorn, being referred as "the Moor" in the play considerably more often than by his name or title. Iago uses numerous racial epithets to describe him and I am certain that his race is another reason why he wanted to destroy him. The play may have been written more than 400 years ago and it's still very timely in that sense, I'm afraid. However, Othello is not a particularly good man. He is extremely quick to anger and feelings of jealousy, both of which Iago uses to his advantage, and fails to give Desdemona the opportunity to defend herself from Iago's lies. After he kills her, he describes himself as "one that loved not wisely but too well" in an attempt to justify the murder but I can't say that I buy it. Othello is a tragic hero but he is more of a compelling character than a sympathetic one.
In one of her first major roles, Maggie Smith is extremely good as Desdemona, the "sweetest innocent that e'er did lift up eye," and crucially has great chemistry with Olivier. She is a more complex character than she appears at first glance. I do not think that she is as submissive as she comes across as she shows her steely resolve when she stands up to her father Brabantio in the first act. With her dying breath, she takes responsibility for her death rather than using the opportunity to implicate Othello. This could be seen as the ultimate act of submissiveness but I interpreted as an act of love as she was able to forgive him in spite of everything. In his first film appearance, the 27-year-old Derek Jacobi is excellent as Cassio, playing the important supporting role with a great level of skill for such a young man. By then, he had already cultivated that great voice of his. There are not too many actors of that age, which happens to be mine incidentally, working today whom I think would be able to handle as well as he does. For her role as Iago's unfortunate wife Emilia, Joyce Redman was deservedly nominated for Best Supporting Actress and her best work is seen in the character's extreme anger and distress after she discovers that Othello has killed Desdemona. Out of the rest of the cast, Anthony Nicholls as Brabantio and Edward Hardwicke as Montano particularly stand out. As Roderico and Bianca respectively, Robert Lang and Sheila Reid are probably the weakest links but in the sense of being least good as opposed to awful. Like Jacobi, Michael Gambon made his film debut here but, unlike Jacobi, he was relegated to a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance in the background.
Overall, this is an excellent version of one of the most absorbing of Shakespeare's tragedies.
Iago is one of the most fascinating Shakespearean characters that I have yet come across. An amoral and remorseless manipulator, he is able to deceive everyone with ease into thinking that he is a good and decent man. This is illustrated by the fact that all of the other character frequently praise him for his honesty and integrity, both in his presence and otherwise. He despises Othello for promoting Cassio over him and plots to destroy him by convincing him that his new bride Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio. In a scheme worthy of Machiavelli himself, he subtly moves the pieces into place without tipping his hand, presenting himself as nothing more than a concerned bystander. Frank Finlay is excellent in the complicated role, delivering an extremely subtle performance. He never makes the mistake of going over the top and playing Iago in an obvious, cartoonishly villainous fashion. You can really believe why people would take Iago at his word as he seems trustworthy. Finlay also completely avoids overacting when Iago outlines his evil plans in his numerous soliloquies. One of the major reasons why I thought that Olivier's version of "Richard III" was a lesser adaptation was that he committed all of the mistakes that Finlay avoids here. Finlay was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role of Iago but, based on his screen time and the fact that he had the most lines, he would have really been nominated for Best Actor as Olivier was.
In what would obviously be unacceptable by today's standards, Olivier plays Othello in blackface as well as deepening his voice and putting on a strange accent. The use of blackface made me uncomfortable and it would have probably been better if they had not overdone the makeup. However, it is a testament to Olivier's great skill as an actor that he is never less than completely engrossing as the title character, particularly in the scenes in which he displays hysterical anger. Othello is another extremely interesting character. His race makes him an outsider in Venetian society and yet it also makes him an object of fascination to people, as his demonstrated by Othello's claim that Brabantio has often questioned him on his life and Brabantio's comment that these tales have won his daughter Desdemona for Othello as well. He has succeeded as a black man in a racist society and as such he is the subject of scorn, being referred as "the Moor" in the play considerably more often than by his name or title. Iago uses numerous racial epithets to describe him and I am certain that his race is another reason why he wanted to destroy him. The play may have been written more than 400 years ago and it's still very timely in that sense, I'm afraid. However, Othello is not a particularly good man. He is extremely quick to anger and feelings of jealousy, both of which Iago uses to his advantage, and fails to give Desdemona the opportunity to defend herself from Iago's lies. After he kills her, he describes himself as "one that loved not wisely but too well" in an attempt to justify the murder but I can't say that I buy it. Othello is a tragic hero but he is more of a compelling character than a sympathetic one.
In one of her first major roles, Maggie Smith is extremely good as Desdemona, the "sweetest innocent that e'er did lift up eye," and crucially has great chemistry with Olivier. She is a more complex character than she appears at first glance. I do not think that she is as submissive as she comes across as she shows her steely resolve when she stands up to her father Brabantio in the first act. With her dying breath, she takes responsibility for her death rather than using the opportunity to implicate Othello. This could be seen as the ultimate act of submissiveness but I interpreted as an act of love as she was able to forgive him in spite of everything. In his first film appearance, the 27-year-old Derek Jacobi is excellent as Cassio, playing the important supporting role with a great level of skill for such a young man. By then, he had already cultivated that great voice of his. There are not too many actors of that age, which happens to be mine incidentally, working today whom I think would be able to handle as well as he does. For her role as Iago's unfortunate wife Emilia, Joyce Redman was deservedly nominated for Best Supporting Actress and her best work is seen in the character's extreme anger and distress after she discovers that Othello has killed Desdemona. Out of the rest of the cast, Anthony Nicholls as Brabantio and Edward Hardwicke as Montano particularly stand out. As Roderico and Bianca respectively, Robert Lang and Sheila Reid are probably the weakest links but in the sense of being least good as opposed to awful. Like Jacobi, Michael Gambon made his film debut here but, unlike Jacobi, he was relegated to a "blink and you'll miss it" appearance in the background.
Overall, this is an excellent version of one of the most absorbing of Shakespeare's tragedies.