Filming 'Othello'

The last film Orson Welles completed during his lifetime is this documentary made for German television about the making of his film of "Othello". (It was intended to be the first in a series, but no further films were made.) Most of the film is Welles sitting and talking to the camera, but footage of a discussion he had with the film's co-stars Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards (friends that go back to Welles's earliest days working in theater in Dublin) and a Q&A session after a showing of "Othello" are dropped in.

Welles is a real raconteur and an utterly fascinating guy to listen to, so this film can't help but entertain. Besides talking about the circumstances of making "Othello", he talks a lot about the meaning of the play.

Highly recommended.