Othello [Отелло] **** (1956, Sergei Bondarchuk, Irina Skobtseva, Andrei Popov) – Classic Movie Review 3342

Director Sergei Yutkevich’s imaginatively filmed, handsome looking, intellectually minded 1956 Russian version of the play by William Shakespeare is the first in colour and stars the great Sergei Bondarchuk, who goes the route of playing the Moor of Venice as a bewildered but noble victim of a revenge plot against him by the jealous Iago.

Irina Skobtseva, who became Bondarchuk’s wife in 1959, adds warmth with her heart-rending performance as Othello’s wife Desdemona, and Andrei Popov is very effective as a creepily cunning Iago.

Aram Khachaturian’s distinguished music score and Yevgeni E Andrikanis’s exterior location cinematography are further huge plus points for the movie. Much cut, with a short running time of 107 minutes, it is a largely forgotten classic. It was entered into competition in the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, where Yutkevich received the Best Director Award.

Bondarchuk plays in black-face, like Laurence Olivier after him in the 1956 version of Othello. Also in the cast are Vladimir Soshalsky as Cassio, Yevgeni Vesnik as Roderigo, Antonina Maksimova as Emilia, Yevgeni Teterin as Brabantio, Mikhail Troyanovsky as the Doge of Venice, A Kelbere, N Brilling and L Ashralova.

Sergei Bondarchuk was one of the most important Russian film-makers, best known for directing and starring in the Oscar-winning epic War and Peace (1966).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3342

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