The Italian Othello

[alan smithee]

Many years ago the late Ciro Giorgini tells me (and to many others) about the existence of an Italian print of Othello, stored in Cineteca Nazionale in Rome.
This print, in very good condition of preservation, reflects the first, and longer, editing that Welles made for the italian distribution of the film. Othello had in fact an italian theatrical release many months before the Cannes festival; Alberto Anile's book, Orson Welles in Italy, recalls the première at Barberini cinema in Rome, in November 29, 1951.
This italian version of Othello remains largely unknown to the historians, probably because it is dubbed in italian.
But now this first version has been showed in Rome during a minifestival of Welles rarities dedicated to the memory of the late Ciro Giorgini.
Here
http://video.repubblica.it/spettacoli-e ... 751/198792
you can see a clip (Welles is dubbed by the great actor Gino Cervi) showing some of the most evident differences between this "italian" editing and the later "french-european" and "american" editings.
The italian version of Othello is near three minutes longer than the french and six minutes than the american one. It shows many slight differences with the later versions: few small shots are present only in this first editing or are placed in different moments of the scene; some small takes are different; but, above all, many sequences are longer (see for example the Brabantio accusation of Othello, cut from the later french version).
A small bilingual italian/english book edited by Anile
http://www.fondazionecsc.it/imgDetail.j ... =Copertina de "L'Otello senza acca. Orson Welles nel fondo Oberdan Troiani", a cura di Alberto Anile (Cineteca Nazionale/ Rubbettino)
will be available in the next days. According to what the author says yesterday during the press conference, the book will contains an analysis shot-by-shot of the differences in the editing between this first italian version and the later ones, and also the reproduction of letters and documents preserved in the Oberdan Trojani's collection, donated to the Cineteca Nazionale by his son Massimiliano.

[Wellesnet]

Thanks Alan!

[Le Chiffre]

This italian version of Othello remains largely unknown to the historians, probably because it is dubbed in italian.
But now this first version has been showed in Rome during a minifestival of Welles rarities dedicated to the memory of the late Ciro Giorgini.

Thanks for the info and links Alan. When was this minifestival? What else was shown?

[Wellesnet]

From "Orson Welles in Italy":