Othello
Tags: tragedy, revenge, murder, romantic

Plot synopsis:
=== Act I ===
Roderigo, a poor and dissolute gentleman, complains to his friend Iago, an ensign, that Iago has not told him about the secret marriage between Desdemona, the daughter of a Senator named Brabantio, and Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. Roderigo is upset because he loves Desdemona and had asked her father for her hand in marriage.
Iago hates Othello for promoting a younger man named Cassio above him, whom Iago considers less capable a soldier than himself, and tells Roderigo that he plans to use Othello for his own advantage. Iago convinces Roderigo to wake Brabantio and tell him about his daughter's elopement. Meanwhile, Iago sneaks away to find Othello and warns him that Brabantio is coming for him.
Brabantio, provoked by Roderigo, is enraged and will not rest until he has beheaded Othello, but he finds Othello's residence full of the Duke of Venice's guards, who prevent violence. News has arrived in Venice that the Turks are going to attack Cyprus; therefore Othello is summoned to advise the senators. Brabantio has no option but to accompany Othello to the Duke's residence, where he accuses Othello of seducing Desdemona by witchcraft.
Othello defends himself before the Duke of Venice, Brabantio's kinsmen Lodovico and Gratiano, and various senators. Othello explains that Desdemona became enamoured of him for the sad and compelling stories he told of his life before Venice, not because of any witchcraft. The senate is satisfied, once Desdemona confirms that she loves Othello, but Brabantio leaves saying that Desdemona will betray Othello: "Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see:/She has deceived her father, and may thee." Iago, still in the room, takes note of Brabantio's remark. By order of the Duke, Othello leaves Venice to command the Venetian armies against invading Turks on the island of Cyprus, accompanied by his new wife, his new lieutenant Cassio, his ensign Iago, and Iago's wife, Emilia, as Desdemona's attendant.
=== Act II ===
The party arrives in Cyprus to find that a storm has destroyed the Turkish fleet. Othello orders a general celebration and leaves to consummate his marriage with Desdemona. In his absence, Iago gets Cassio drunk, and then persuades Roderigo to draw Cassio into a fight. Montano tries to calm an angry and drunk Cassio down, but end up fighting one another. Montano is injured in the fight. Othello reenters and questions the men as to what happened. Othello blames Cassio for the disturbance and strips him of his rank. Cassio is distraught. Iago persuades Cassio to importune Desdemona to convince her husband to reinstate Cassio.
=== Act III ===
Iago now persuades Othello to be suspicious of Cassio and Desdemona. When Desdemona drops a handkerchief (the first gift given to her by Othello), Emilia finds it, and gives it to her husband Iago, at his request, unaware of what he plans to do with it. Othello reenters and vows with Iago for the death of Desdemona and Cassio, after which he makes Iago his lieutenant. Act III, scene iii, is considered to be the turning point of the play as it is the scene in which Iago successfully sows the seeds of doubt in Othello's mind, inevitably sealing Othello's fate.
=== Act IV ===
Iago plants the handkerchief in Cassio's lodgings, then tells Othello to watch Cassio's reactions while Iago questions him. Iago goads Cassio on to talk about his affair with Bianca, a local courtesan, but whispers her name so quietly that Othello believes the two men are talking about Desdemona. Later, Bianca accuses Cassio of giving her a second-hand gift which he had received from another lover. Othello sees this, and Iago convinces him that Cassio received the handkerchief from Desdemona.
Enraged and hurt, Othello resolves to kill his wife and asks Iago to kill Cassio. Othello proceeds to make Desdemona's life miserable, hitting her in front of visiting Venetian nobles. Meanwhile, Roderigo complains that he has received no results from Iago in return for his money and efforts to win Desdemona, but Iago convinces him to kill Cassio.
=== Act V ===
Roderigo attacks Cassio in the street after Cassio leaves Bianca's lodgings. Cassio wounds Roderigo. During the scuffle, Iago comes from behind Cassio and badly cuts his leg. In the darkness, Iago manages to hide his identity, and when Lodovico and Gratiano hear Cassio's cries for help, Iago joins them. When Cassio identifies Roderigo as one of his attackers, Iago secretly stabs Roderigo to stop him revealing the plot. Iago then accuses Bianca of the failed conspiracy to kill Cassio.
Othello confronts Desdemona, and then strangles her to death in their bed. When Emilia arrives, Othello accuses Desdemona of adultery. Emilia calls for help. The former governor Montano arrives, with Gratiano and Iago. When Othello mentions the handkerchief as proof, Emilia realizes what her husband Iago has done, and she exposes him, whereupon he kills her. Othello, belatedly realising Desdemona's innocence, stabs Iago but not fatally, saying that he would rather have Iago live the rest of his life in pain.
Iago refuses to explain his motives, vowing to remain silent from that moment on. Lodovico apprehends both Iago and Othello for the murders of Roderigo and Emilia, but Othello commits suicide. Lodovico appoints Gratiano Othello's successor and exhorts Cassio to punish Iago justly.

Review: This is the best film of a Shakespeare play that I have ever seen.
(Throne of Blood is a great movie, but it's an adaptation, not really Shakespeare's Macbeth.)  What makes the difference for me are the outstanding performances by the entire cast, not just Olivier.
I haven't seen any other roles played by either Frank Finlay or Joyce Redman, but in any case, they're excellent here.
I much prefer Olivier's Othello to his film role as Hamlet.
More text gives more characterization to Othello, and gives Olivier the chance to really fill the role, which he does beautifully.
The National Theatre production of 'Othello' was legendary - one of Laurence Olivier's iconic roles from the era when white actors still blacked up to play the lead part.But is it really any good on the screen?
It is essentially filmed theatre with an overpowering performance from Olivier, which is perhaps too large for viewing away from the stage - but it does benefit from three key parts of excellence in support (Frank Finlay as Iago, in Shakespeare's longest role as far as numbers of lines is concerned; Maggie Smith as a delicate Desdemona; and a very young Derek Jacobi as Cassio, resplendent in fine clothes and groomed hair).Trimmed slightly from the full play, it nevertheless keeps the main characters and the sense of the story, and plays at nearly two and a half hours.
Tight direction, good diction, and - as far as filmed theatre can be - adequate sets give this Othello an edge which means it is still relevant today..
Still the best OTHELLO on film after 40 Years despite first rate competition.
Viewing this superb filmed stage production (as well and faithfully filmed as any stage production could be) many may question why a Shakespearian actor of Olivier's standing resisted playing The Moor of Venice as hard as he did.
The reason is absolutely plain in his performance - Paul Robeson's world shattering Broadway performance on Broadway for the Theatre Guild in 1943 (tragically, never filmed, but recorded complete by Columbia Records).It was Robeson (the first major black actor to play the part in a major commercial production - 280 performances at the Shubert Theatre, where A CHORUS LINE would eventually set musical records) who changed how we look at Othello - previously usually played as the MOOR Shakespeare wrote (frequently played in blackface, but the key element was the Islamic roots in North Africa - see Orson Welles' 1952 film, documenting for virtually the only time on sound film the earlier tradition - Welles would not have made a credible black man), and critics in 1943 drew the distinction between a Moor and a "Black-a-Moor".
After Robeson, it became nearly impossible to think of anyone but a black actor in the role.
Either way, the tale of the perpetual outsider, cautioning against jealousy and spousal abuse AGES before they became popular "causes" rings remarkably true.Finally persuaded to add the Moor of Venice to his Shakespearian repertoire, and ultimately (he toured it all over Europe first) to his long list of distinguished Shakespearian films - after his brilliant HENRY V, it is probably his best - Olivier did everything in his power to honor, even copy, the Robeson performance.YES, Frank Findlay runs away with the piece as Iago, and Maggie Smith's accent occasionally jars, but younger audiences will be astonished at the young "Professor McGonagall".
It is remarkable Smith didn't have whiplash after playing over a hundred performances of the extremely physical bedroom scene.
All told this all star cast still surpasses the excellent, frequently AS well acted but shorter, more "movie-movie" versions from Laurence Fishburne et al..Olivier is so good in this role which has been one of Fishburne's best, I'd love to see what Fishburne could do with HENRY V; I bet it would be great..
Surely this is his best Shakespeare role, but must admit I wish he could have filmed Macbeth.
This was film Shakespeare at its best--until Branagh's Hamlet..
As this is a filmed stage production, some concessions must be made for the extravagant, loud, performances of some of the cast, although this over-acting does tend  to get in the way.
Laurence Olivier, as Othello, the moor of Venice, is extraordinary, and some moments in his performance are superb, but his constant habit of shouting at the top of his voice and throwing himself around the stage grates.
His voice, made deeper by vocal training, will surprise those who are used to seeing Olivier in other films, where he does not play an Arab.
Frank Finlay is an absolutely brilliant Iago, willingly talking to us, the audience, in his soliluquies, as though we were one of the characters, and taking malicious delight in his evil machinations.
CAST RATING (out of 10) Laurence Oliver (6) Maggie Smith (9) Joyce Redman (6) Frank Finlay (10) Derek Jacobi (8).
In fact William Shakespeare probably should have entitled the play Iago instead.Othello gets the title because the emphasis is on his reactions to Iago's hints of infidelity in regard to Othello's new wife Desdemona.
Because Othello, a Moorish soldier of fortune in the pay of the Duke of Venice passes Iago over for a promotion and gives it to another favorite named Cassio.
All that sucking up gone for naught, Iago plans subtle revenge.But in order to make this work, it's more than Othello he has to maneuver.
He drops lies and suspicions to Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, and even his own wife Emilia, to another suitor for Desdemona named Rodrigo, in short to just about the rest of the cast.
It's why I think Iago's character is central.Nevertheless Othello earned for Laurence Olivier another nomination for Best Actor and for Maggie Smith as Desdemona, Best Actress.
Frank Finlay as the subtle and clever Iago and Joyce Redman as his wife Emilia got nominations in the Supporting Actor categories.
And as Rodrigo who Iago plays like a piccolo is Robert Lang, both of whom are cast perfectly.Unlike Olivier's other Shakespearean work, this is essentially a photographed stage play.
I am very fond of Shakespeare's work so I was all for seeing Olivier's Othello having loved his Hamlet so much.
You couldn't have had a more perfect cast either, I think Laurence Olivier's Othello has more depth than his Hamlet, and to this day I still consider it one of his best performances on films, he is extraordinary.
Maggie Smith is poignant, delicate and determined as Desdemona, and a young Derek Jacobi is excellent as Cassio.
Frank Finlay's Iago is clever, conniving and altogether brilliant, for me the best of the supporting turns.
Olivier got a lot of flack at the time for the Al Jolson performance, from people who failed to take into account the exaggeration of gesture and make-up that goes with a stage production.
That's all it is, a film of a stage production, but visually the stage design is good and the photography presents it excellently..
Second, his interpretation is a valid one and I didnt know there was a rule that actors could not play characters of different races.
Olivier uses a full octave voice lower for the performance, unatural to his usual tenor voice.
If one simply judges the acting, it should be seen as a powerful piece of work.
Best Movie Version of Othello.
Laurence Olivier was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Othello, and deservedly so.
I was mesmerized by his performance, he was truly one of the greatest actors of all time.All of the cast performed very well: Frank Finlay as Iago, Joyce Redman as Emilia, Maggie Smith as Desdemona, and in his very first movie role, Derek Jacobi as Cassio.
The costumes were very good too - I far more enjoy watching Shakespeare set in it's original and appropriate time in history..
This version of Othello would be best enjoyed by the over 20 crowd.
Laurence Olivier is masterful in this film.
This version of Othello should also give good credit for the performance of Frank Finlay as Iago.
Maggie Smith also portrays a good Desdemona.
It is amazing at how well Laurence Olivier performs in Othello, yet to no surprise since he is a consummate Shakespearean actor.
No matter what, this film should be seen by all who enjoy Shakespeare.
Still, first of all, let's just say outright that this is a glorious adaptation of a great play, and my 9 rating would be a 10 if it had been made as a true movie instead of simply a filmed play.
As such, it is still glorious, but think of what Olivier might have done with it if given the resources he worked with in HENRY V.First of all, Othello IS a black man.
He is not simply a Moor, or a brown fellow, but black, and Othello and others say this many times in the play.
As for Olivier's make-up, it is NOT black face (which is a pejorative term rightly associated with minstrelsy) but simply coloring to make the actor look like the character he is playing.
I would go so far as to say that in my somewhat limited experience with white actors playing black roles - pretty much limited to OTHELLO, actually - but we may want to throw some Indians (red or brown, take your choice) or Hispanic roles in there, Olivier's is the most perfect visual realization of a black man I have ever seen by a white man.
If you were to look at any photograph of him in the role without the actor being identified as Laurence Olivier, you would not doubt for a minute that a black actor was playing this part.
Let's also dismiss this nonsense about Olivier paying any kind of homage to Paul Robeson in this role or, for that matter, that black actors didn't play this role before Robeson came along.
Also, although Robeson was a quite successful Othello, he was not a greatly lauded one at the time, but only in retrospect, mainly because although he had been gifted with one of the greatest natural singing and speaking voices of his time and was a good actor, he was not a great actor and pretty much supported both his singing and acting interpretations by relying on the glory of that natural voice (Richard Burton was kept from being a truly great actor later on due to that same reliance on voice rather than interpretation - call it 'technique', if you must).
The voice he puts on, which is certainly more of a bass than a baritone one, was one of the great shocks of my life when I first heard it - how could the always-tenor-toned Olivier get down there with Robeson, Welles and Ezio Pinza(!), but he did.
Also, there was a very noted black actor successfully playing Othello at the time, one whose natural voice was just about as deep as Robeson's (or Olivier's put on) voice, and that was William Marshall (Blacula, unfortunately, to later generations), who may actually have been a better actor than Robeson or Welles (Orson was a very great director, but only a very good actor).
Olivier had not played Othello before the 1960s because he was smitten with the role of Iago, which he did play to Ralph Richardson's Othello in the late 1940s.
(The story was that Olivier introduced a not-too-subtle homoerotic theme into Iago's hatred of Othello, but they never made Richardson aware of it, and it went right over his head.
Ralph was very straitlaced as well as very straight!)There may have been some criticisms of Olivier's Othello, but most of the criticism I remember of it at the time was overwhelmingly laudatory, so much so that the original English production got a quite huge article written about it in LIFE magazine at the time, and Olivier pretty much walked away with that year's entire London theatrical season.As for only black actors doing Othello now, that is pretty much true, but unfortunate, because any actor should be able to play any of the great roles which his talent will allow for, and for which audiences are willing to pay to see.
At the Met Opera, their recent production of Verdi's OTELLO dictated that the tenor playing the role eschew black make-up entirely, so that the black character, referred to so often as black in the opera, too, and part of whose baggage regarding his falling so easily for Iago's treacherous insinuations about Desdemona is that very blackness - his outsider status as both a black man and a non-Venetian (which should explain Olivier's 'strange' accent in the movie) making Iago's job easy.
A Great Performance By Olivier.
While the direction and cinematography weighs this movie down and keeps me from giving it 9 stars, Laurence Olivier's performance is so phenomenal it raises the film above mediocrity and makes it one that absolutely has to be seen - especially for those who aren't yet convinced of Olivier's greatness.
(Frank Finlay is also brilliant as the evil Iago.) A great story of jealousy and evil human schemes also makes this a tale that needs to be known.
See my comment in the Message Boards here for more about the DVD.Some trivia: The Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli said of Olivier's stage version: "I was told that this was the last flourish of the romantic tradition of acting.
I would call it a lesson for us all." John Steinbeck said that Olivier's performance on-stage was the greatest he had ever seen.
Other critics, particularly Bosley Caruthers in the New York Times, trashed the performance as rubbish both on-stage and screen, accusing Olivier of making the noble Moor into a racist caricature.
Sammy Davis Jr.' claimed that Olivier had come to see him perform multiple times and copied some of his mannerisms in his Othello.
Olivier said that the play belongs to Iago, who could make the Moor look a credulous idiot.
When Kenneth Tynan told Olivier that Orson Welles had described Othello as "a natural baritone", Olivier, a natural tenor, took voice lessons for several weeks.
Tynan wrote in his book "Profiles" (Nick Hern Books, 1989): "In the opening exchanges with Iago, Olivier displays the public mask of Othello: a Negro sophisticated enough to conform to the white myth about Negroes, pretending to be simple and not above rolling the eyes, but in fact concealing (like any other aristocrat) a highly developed sense of racial superiority...
Olivier's was not a noble, 'civilised' Othello but a triumphant black despot, aflame with unadmitted self-regard.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
However, Othello is not a particularly good man.
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.
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.
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.
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..
Anyone who knows anything about Shakespeare's tragedies, or who even thinks about them for him/herself, knows that Othello is not about jealousy.
Nor, in spite of what Olivier is supposed to have said, is it about Iago.
As one or two of the more intelligent reviewers have noted, an actor is allowed to "act" any theatrical role he/she wishes, black, white or purple.
The scenery, and the rest of the business, is not really a priority, and should never excessively obtrude, or become "cinematic".If someone truly wants to know what Shakespeare's Othello is about, they should watch and listen closely to Olivier's delivery.