Criterion releases Othello on blu-ray

[RayKelly]

Colin Fleming has written about the Criterion release of Othello for Salon at https://www.salon.com/2017/11/19/a-definitive-new-blu-ray-release-of-orson-welless-othello-with-the-perfect-iago-for-our-age/
I found this portion interesting:

I have a millennial friend who is quite smart, and very fond of buzzwords. We were talking about how I was writing about "Othello" and Welles, when she told me that she had never seen the film (to be expected), or read the play (less expected), didn’t really know who Welles was (totally expected), but wasn’t he white and oh no, oh dear, please, please tell me he did not film in blackface?
I responded that he used makeup, this person from this different age who always over-used makeup because he was embarrassed by his own appearance when he was acting, that Welles did so much for civil rights before the formal Civil Rights movement, that he had launched a brilliant all-black cast version of "Macbeth," and that trying to make one’s self look more Moorish is not the same as partaking of the vile, dehumanizing rituals of blackface. And it was just a different time, a world that would be every bit aghast at things that we find hunky dory in our world. That works both ways.
Now, you might say that the old world has passed and the new one is relevant, but this one will pass, too, and it is all put forward, eventually, to be adjudicated by history and reality, the co-ruling judges. But my friend had made up her mind, here in Gotcha Culture: This person who did not know much about Welles, who had not read "Othello," who would never see this cinematic version of it, had branded Orson Welles a racist. She then posted something on Facebook, like she had caught a criminal.

[Wellesnet]

Othello makes Sight and Sound magazine's best Blurays of the year list:
http://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-rele ... ght-sound/

[jbrooks]

I just started watching my Blu Ray last night. I was immediately struck by the fact that the 1955 print/transfer looks objectively bad at times. The final shots of the Senate meeting in Venice in particular look washed out and lack detail. Look at the shot where Hilton Edwards warns Othello that "She deceived her father and may thee." It looks much worse here in the 1955 version than in any other version I've ever seen (92 theatrical release, the Criterion Blu Ray, the 2014 theatrical release in DCP). Is there any good explanation for why the 1955 version here doesn't look as good as the 92 restoration? I can understand why Criterion would be reluctant to use the re-recorded soundtrack from 92, but where the picture quality was better, why not use it?

[Le Chiffre]

From what I understand, Criterion purchased the Othello negative from Beatrice Welles. That does not necessarily include the 1992 restoration, the rights of which may be owned (or partly owned) by someone else. But then, Criterion has never shown much interest in the 1992, so it's not surprising that they would want to create their own version completely separate from that. I've heard Criterion put in an enormous amount of work in creating their 1995 laserdisc version.

BTW, I agree with you. The picture does look a little washed out in the scene you mentioned, and overall the 1992 looks better, although Criterion's new version of 1955 is good too, for the most part. I would say though, that the real star of this Bluray set is the 1952 version, which has never looked or sounded so good.

[Steve Paradis]

Is this a new release, or a re-issue of the one discussed above?
https://www.criterion.com/films/28621-othello

[Roger Ryan]

Is this a new release, or a re-issue of the one discussed above?
https://www.criterion.com/films/28621-othello

The link is to the Criterion release which came out in 2017 and is the same one discussed in this thread. It contains both the initial 1952 version as well as revised version Welles did for the U.S. release in 1955 (along with numerous extras), although not the 1992 "restored" version.

FYI - The film will be streaming on the Criterion Channel in July.