Othello 1951

A timeless film adaptation of Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy, in which the film’s director, George Orson Welles, played the lead role. Filming of *Othello* took four years due to funding problems, and during that time, Welles had to act in other films to help keep *Othello* afloat. Among them were *The Cunning Fox of Borgia* by Henry King, *The Black Rose* by Henry Hathaway, and *The Third Man* by Carol Reed. His efforts were not in vain—the film is considered one of the best Shakespeare adaptations, dynamic, concise, and suspenseful. His film *Othello* opens with a solemn and mournful prologue: along the seashore, against the backdrop of stone fortress walls, a funeral procession moves forward, banners flutter, weapons glint, a coffin bearing the body of the black commander is carried on the shoulders of armored soldiers, and Iago, locked in an iron cage, stares with fury—like a trapped predator—at his enemy’s posthumous triumph.