Othello - Restored v. Laserdisc

[Welles Fan]

Fredric: in answer to your question-yes, Iago does indeed have sound coming out on the ramparts in the Criterion LD edition. He seems to be saying something I cannot find in the text, as all are wondering if Othello is in the ship-something like "is it possible they bear him?". There is more "funny business" in this scene. Iago's line in the Criterion version (and Shakespeare's) "the Moor, I know his trumpet!", becomes in the Beatrice version "it is him-I know Othello's trumpet!".

I'm not sure there is a "repeat" shot of Iago walking through the "let the canniken clink" scene, but there is a shot in both versions in which he walks past the lute players, then walks past from another angle.

I think the Criterion LD is superior to the DVD in every respect. I think the picture is richer, and the sound is definitely better (what good is it to re-record the music when it is the dialogue that needs the most work?), and the supplements, as Jaime mentioned, have it all over the DVD. I'm much more interested in the commentaries, the "Return to Glennescaul" short (very charming and haunting little 2-reeler), and the clips from Welles' documentary on "Filming Othello". The DVD "restoration" pales in every way (IMHO) to the Criterion LD version.

[Fredric]

:_(

[Fredric]

What would prevent Criterion from releasing a DVD version of its LD?

Let me rephrase that....

Will Criterion release their own DVD?

Let me rephrase that...

Can we all sign a petition to have Criterion release its LD on DVD?

[Jeff Wilson]

Criterion won't be releasing their own DVD because Beatrice Welles-Smith owns the film, lock, stock and barrel. I don't know how they were able to do it the first time, but I doubt she'd let it happen again. The only hope for the non-tampered version is another country, where she might not have video rights, or some such arrangement. Or, until recordable DVD becomes more widespread and someone can start circulating underground copies...

[Welles Fan]

It is strange, because the liner notes on the LD (released in 1995) mention the 1992 Beatrice release and the issue of the sound "restoration. I wonder how they got away with it, too. Maybe a "cease and desist" order was handed out to them afterwards and they may have quietly withdrawn the LD. And 1995 was a year that saw the DVD start to take hold and LD's began their slide into oblivion.

I just hope my LD does not succumb to laser rot before recordable DVD's are a reality. I've already made a VHS tape backup.

[Fredric]

We need to get Bea on this group and bombard her with info as to why her lawyer is bad news. The last person to screw up Dad's art should be his own daughter...

[Jeff Wilson]

I made a similar comment about laser rot on another board, and was informed that if my discs weren't rotting by now, they were unlikely to start any time soon. Hopefully that guy was right. I was very puzzled as well by the Criterion release mentioning the restoration as well. Presumably there was some contract loophole that allowed Criterion to release the original version, or Beatrice simply gave them permission. Regardless, it's out there for those who can track it down, which is the important thing.

[Welles Fan]

Re: Laser rot-I lost several discs in the late 80's to the dreaded "rot". Surprisingly, Pioneer replaced them for me. Sadly, I have seen my Citizen Kane disc from 1985 begin to show signs of the "rot".

[Cole]

Cease and desist order? Contract loophole? Probably not. Permission from Beatrice? Almost certainly. I’m sure that an established, respected business like Criterion gets licenses before they start manufacturing and selling movies on disc. And they get these licenses from the people who own the copyright of the movie. With OTHELLO, I think the owner is Beatrice – or at least she is probably one of the co-owners. When Beatrice issued her DVD of OTHELLO in 1992, she had it copyrighted and she and “the estate of Paola Mori” were the listed owners. The “estate of Paola Mori” is presumably defunct at this point in time, and whatever property it had was probably distributed to the heirs of the estate, and maybe Beatrice is now (and was in 1995) the sole owner of the OTHELLO copyright, but in any case, Beatrice’s permission would have been necessary for Criterion to start selling its laser disc of OTHELLO.

I’m not sure about this, but I think Criterion gets licenses that last a certain duration of time and/or that allow Criterion to produce and sell movies in a designated medium – like laser discs. The license, then, is only good for a certain medium and/or a certain amount of time. Perhaps the license to sell OTHELLO expired and/or was limited to the production and sale of the movie on laser disc. I’d bet my bottom dollar that it’s one or both of the two.

But even assuming the license does not allow Criterion to start reselling OTHELLO on DVD, there’s nothing that would stop Criterion from getting another license to do that if Beatrice (the presumed owner) would agree to that arrangement. Why they don’t strike up another deal that would allow Criterion to start selling it on DVD, I don’t know. Maybe now that the Beatrice version is out on DVD, she doesn’t want Criterion to sell a competing disc, which she’d still get a royalty for, but probably not as much as what she gets from the sale of her own DVD. Also, maybe the costs involved in converting the product from laser disc to DVD are substantial enough that Criterion isn’t interested in renegotiating a deal with Beatrice unless the costs in getting a new license are minimal. I don’t know, but I’m sure there are economic reasons why we’re not seeing a Criterion version coming out on DVD.

Personally, I’ve only seen the Beatrice version and I’m forever disappointed to hear that it pales in comparison to the Criterion laser disc. How’s the lip synchronization on the Criterion laser disc next to the Beatrice DVD? I don’t think the synchronization is very good on the DVD, despite all the claimed effort that went into fixing the sync problems. Also, I was surprised to read a Chicago Tribune article from either 1995 or 1996 that stated that the Criterion laser disc has the European version, as opposed to the American version that’s on the Beatrice DVD. Is that correct??

I keep thinking it would be really cool to see a 2-disc DVD come out with the Criterion version on one disc and FILMING OTHELLO on the other disc. What are the odds of that happening? Nothing wrong with day-dreaming is there?

[Jeff Wilson]

Oh, I'm sure Criterion had legal right to release it, but I don't see another such release happening, simply beacuse Beatrice likely regards her version as the definitive version. Why put out another version that might cause others to second-guess her?

And Criterion does indeed get licenses for a specified amount of time. They've had several DVDs go out of print because of their rights expiring. Also, they likely wouldn't have negotiated for any other rights other than laserdisc, because they didn't have any other formats to release product in until 1998 or so. When DVD rolled around, they would have had to re-negotiate their various licenses before doing DVD versions. This excludes the Janus Films catalog, which is part of the same company as Criterion.

I tend to think preparing it for DVD again would be something Criterion would be interested in, especially since they have no Welles titles at all. Is it likely to happen? I doubt it. I'd love it if it did, though.

[Welles Fan]

I visited Criterion's Home Page, and used their title suggestion feature to contact Jon Mulvaney and request a DVD re-issue of the Othello package that been released on LD. I got this extraordinarily specific and personal reply:
Sorry for the bounceback, but due to the large volume of suggestions
we receive every day, I can't respond to each one individually. You
should know, however, that when you click the title suggestion
button, you ensure that your message will be forwarded directly to
our acquisitions crew. Customers input is very important to us, and
many films that have become Criterion editions first came to our
attention through the enthusiastic recommendations of Criterion
viewers.

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming!


JM

[Cole]

It may be worth a shot to send messages to Criterion asking them to release their version of OTHELLO on DVD. However, I’m not much more optimistic than Jeff that this will happen any time soon – or not at least until Beatrice has recouped the investment she made in having the movie revised.

But regarding my previous question about Criterion’s OTHELLO, does anyone know which copy of the film they used to make it? According to Joseph McBride’s book, Criterion used a copy of the 1955 U.S. release. However, I’ve read at least one article, dated 8/8/1995 from the Chicago Tribune, that states that on the Criterion laser disc OTHELLO “is presented in its original, 92-minute European version, its digital transfer created from the 35 mm composite fine-grain master made from the original camera negative.” This would be the 1952 version which was edited slightly differently than the later, U.S. version. Anyone know the answer to this? Thanks.

[Welles Fan]

Cole: I agree that it is certainly worth a try to besiege Criterion with requests for Othello on DVD. That is why I posted a link to their site, so everybody-send a request for a DVD version of the Othello that was released on laserdisc. Othello is an absolutely amazing film, IMO, and a deluxe version, such as was released on LaserDisc, is needed to do the film justice.

The Laserdisc version claims to be the 1955 original American version. The notes say this version most closely approximates the 1952 Italian version which won the Palm d'Or @ Cannes, which leads me to believe that the 1952 version is lost. As I said in earlier posts: the print is, IMO richer, and the sound is in much better shape. If I had my way, I would amplify the voices a tad, but otherwise, the sound is very good.

Aside to Jaime: you mention that the footage Welles is viewing in the movieola (during the Filming Othello documentary) has a luminence lacking in the prints of the film released on laser and DVD. I suggest you look at the Filming Othello excerpts again. The print Welles is looking at in the movieola is an incredibly washed out print that looks like a copy of a copy of a copy. There is virtually no detail in the picture, and it is nigh impossible to discern anyone's features in any of the shots. The luminosity, IMO is due to the faded quality of the print. I believe the richer B&W versions in the laser and in the DVD, with all the shades of grey, are more akin to what Welles intended.

[Cole]

Thanks for the info, Welles Fan. I asked because the European version supposedly has the credits spoken by Orson near the beginning of the film, not listed at the end as in the American version, and this is just one of several differences between the two versions. I also wondered if maybe that had something to do with the better quality of the Criterion version over the Beatrice version. Apparently not, but evidently Criterion found a better print than the one that Beatrice used (the print at the Library of Congress that Jeff mentioned above?). And I also agree with you that the film is exceptionally good (at least when you ignore some of the technical problems with it). Like THE TRIAL, OTHELLO is raw art, and probably not a film likely to be interesting to many (if any) Hollywood movie lovers. For me, the opening sequence is one of the most artistically satisfying scenes in film history (or what I know of it).

[jaime marzol]

make sure you bombard criteriun with requests to make othello look like it's supposed to look, like the clips welles used in FILMING OTHELLO, not bathed in grey