The Merchant of Venice (1969 film)
The Merchant of Venice | |
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Directed by | Orson Welles |
Written by | Orson Welles |
Based on | The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare |
Produced by | Orson Welles |
Starring |
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Cinematography |
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Music by | Francesco Lavagnino |
Release date |
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Running time | 35 minutes |
Countries |
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Language | English |
The Merchant of Venice is a 1969 drama short film directed by
Cast
- Orson Welles as Shylock.
- Charles Gray as Antonio.
- Irina Maleeva as Jessica.
- Jonathan Lynn as Tubal.
- Anthony Ainley as Bassanio.
- Dorian Bond as Launcelot Gobbo.
Further cast members were Bill Cronshaw, Mauro Bonanni and Nina Palinkas. Bonnani was not a professional actor, but an editor who was then working on Welles's Don Quixote, while Palinkas was the younger sister of Oja Kodar, whose real name was Olga Palinkas.[1]
Production
Differing sources give the film's running time as between 30 and 40 minutes. Welles started work on the film in 1969. It was originally produced as part of his abandoned 90-minute television special, Orson's Bag, which was made for CBS; but later that year, with the project close to completion, CBS withdrew their funding over Welles' long-running disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status, and so Welles completed the film as an independent project.
Filming commenced in
Welles completed the film in the summer of 1969, and gave a preview screening to Oja Kodar and her mother in Rome. Shortly after the screening, two of the three workprint reels were stolen, with only the first reel remaining. The original negative has survived, but it lacks any sound; and in the absence of a workprint it is impossible to tell how the silent negative material should be edited together, or to restore the original sound.
In the early 1970s, Welles filmed the Shylock monologue wearing a modern-day trenchcoat, although it is unclear how this footage would have been used. Several takes were made, and reports differ as to whether these were made in the Arizona desert, in France, or near Malaga, Spain (different takes may have been taken in each of these places), and some of these can be seen in the documentary Orson Welles: The One Man Band (1995), along with clips from the first third of The Merchant of Venice.[2]
Legacy
Welles left all his materials from his incomplete film projects, including this one, to Oja Kodar, and she in turn donated these materials to the
Restoration
A restored and reconstructed version of the film, made by using the original script and composer's notes, premiered at the
References
- ^ Andrew J. Rausch, 'Orson Welles/Gary Graver Collaborative Filmography', in Gary Graver with Andrew J. Rausch, Making Movies With Orson Welles (Scarecrow Press, Plymouth, 2008) p.164
- YouTube
- ^ Jean-Pierre Berthomé and Francois Thomas, Orson Welles at Work (Phaidon, London, 2008) p. 310
- ^ Roffman, Michael (August 7, 2015). "Lost Orson Welles film to premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
External links
- The Merchant of Venice at IMDb