| Othello | 
 enlarge | Directors: Stuart Burge, John Dexter (ii)
Actors: Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, Frank Finlay, Derek Jacobi
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $11.90
You Save: $8.08 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 14520
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Original Recording Remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 166
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD111210D
UPC: 085391112105
EAN: 0085391112105
ASIN: B000QGE8IS
Theatrical Release Date: 1965
Release Date: August 14, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 08/14/2007 Run time: 166 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Laurence Olivier's extravagant performance as the jealous Moor of Venice had its origins on stage at London's National Theatre; this 1965 film is a straight rendering of that production, shot on a soundstage with spare backdrops. However much the resulting artifact can actually be described as a film, one must feel gratitude just for the preservation of Olivier's pinwheeling turn. Yes, it's theatrical: the blackface make-up, the exotic gestures, the rumbly voice. Olivier doesn't connect organically with the character, but builds layer upon layer of effect until reaching critical mass; then his Othello explodes across the stage, keening in rage or flopping in agony. Before being encouraged to doubt his spotless wife Desdemona (Maggie Smith), Olivier's Moor flashes a broad grin that stands as a beacon of his shallow self-confidence; after the coin drops, his body hunches in misery. If Olivier dominates, this film nevertheless presents a marvelous Iago, by Frank Finlay, the evil engineer of the plot. It may just be Finlay's physical and vocal resemblance to comic Peter Cook, but he seems to embody the sarcasm and "sick" humor of the 1960s in his Iago--and his dry style is far more attuned to the movie camera than Olivier's. Olivier, Finlay, and Smith were all nominated for Oscars, as was Joyce Redman, as Iago's hapless lady. For a real shock, and a great lesson in Olivier's chameleon talent, watch Othello and then view the brief promotional film shot during filming, included on the DVD--you'll be astonished that the gray-haired gentleman, near sixty and with clunky eyeglasses, is the same volcanic performer that just erupted for 166 minutes on film. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 A titanic actor's worst mistake January 6, 2009
This performance by Olivier is painful to me in all the wrong ways.
A reviewer has bemoaned the fact that the film was shot in close-up so that Olivier's body-language is not visible. The reason was surely that the director wanted to draw attention away from everything below that noble chin -- the hobbling, stamping gait, the jangling anklets and bracelets, the wild gestures (apparently devised by Olivier after studying apes in the zoo) and all the other amazing oddities he brought forth for an audience to whom black men were a rarity which needed explaining.
The pseudo-Caribbean accent, too, may have seemed a good idea in 1968 but never made any sense. The "Othello music," that collection of amazing set-pieces which offers such wonderful opportunities to an actor, is often thrown away by Olivier, who bellows deafeningly, gurgles or shrieks, losing the rhythm, the words, the poetry itself.
Sublime in almost every other role he took up, Olivier is here more of a curiosity than anything else. But such was his authority as an actor that the performance continues to reverberate down the decades, giving delight or offence according to the spectator.
 Just an added note. December 27, 2008
I also love this performance. The source being a run of performances in England, each character is literally performing the work with an overview frequently missing in piece-meal performances. I just want to add, however, that buried in the names of the other actors is one "Mike Gambon". He later went on to play the role of the Vicar in Ghosts for BBC (with Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Natasha Richardson and Freddie Jones) and to become the replacement for Richard Harris in the Harry Potter series. You just never know where famous actors get their start.
Olivier as Othello December 6, 2008
I'm teaching Shakespeare and, simultaneously, going backward through the career of Laurence Olivier: first King Lear, then Othello, then Hamlet. To see a man whom you would not look at twice in the supermarket transform himself into the painfully deluded Lear, the obsessed Othello, and the beautiful Hamlet is a privilege worthy of many a long wait. Thanks to this DVD neither I nor my students have to wait nor buy a ticket on a time machine to return to London in 1965. Incomparable. Yes, I know Fishbourne did an admirable version. But Olivier's version is close to the stage and imaginatively directed. His Othello is essential as a beginning point. And the performances of the rest of the cast, especially that of Frank Finlay as Iago, are consistent with Olivier's demands upon himself as actor and director.
Is there such a thing as TOO black? May 19, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Okay, so I had to analyze and compare 4 different film versions of Othello for a post-graduate class & this was one of them. Everyone in the class liked it the least, thought Olivier was "too black," and considered his comments about learning to become the otherness of Othello by watching/observing monkeys quite offensive. Olivier plays Othello without any real heart and I didn't care too much about his character. Though this is a complete and about as unabridged film version as you can get, which mimics the appearance of a stage presentation, I didn't even enjoy Iago (my favorite character). For some reason, they all take a backseat to "the great" Olivier. Seriously, look at the cover. "The greatest Othello ever by the Greatest Actor of our time"??? Enough, already!
 Recommended December 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm essentially of 2 minds about this film. On the one hand, I was consistently impressed by the sheer inventiveness of Olivier's use of the text. The only word which really suffices is "musical". He really made the verse come to life, elegantly, even terrifyingly at times. His Othello is larger than life and completely overshadows the others. The scene where he subdues a man (does he strangle him?) with one hand is magnificent.
On the other hand, I am not the least bit bothered by a white man playing the role of a black man in a play like this (surely the first Othello was a white man and the point is that Othello is an outsider, a foreigner, and different; maybe a production should use a white Othello surrounded by black Venetians and Cypriots); it is called ACTING. However, I found Olivier just a little, how shall I say this?, trying too hard to be an Afro-Caribbean. I cannot believe that Othello should sound a little like a Jamaican. I would add that the makeup is stage makeup, so being offended by the large red lips and long lashes is a little silly. It is done that way so that the facial features can be seen from many feet away in the theater. It might have been a good idea to consider toning it down for the film.
If you love Shakespeare, give this a try. Like all masterpieces it lends itself to many, many valid interpretations. This is more than a filmed play, but something less than a movie. Although I would add that with such fine acting (from everyone in the cast), I was not really looking at the sets and costumes. Just as in opera where the music and words are enough to create a mood and drive a plot, the words and their intense and majestic declamation are enough here.
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