The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice 1951

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: There are flashes of brilliant suggestion in this tumbled, slurred, and helter-skelter film. But they add up to nothing substantial -- just a little Shakespeare and a lot of Welles. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: For all the liberties taken with the play, Orson Welles's 1952 independent feature may well be the greatest Shakespeare film. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: Seldom has a director encountered so many frustrations and obstacles, and turned those obstructions into inspirations, integrating them into his vision. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Othello has been filmed numerous times, but never with such extraordinary visual grace and power. Read more

Steve Simels, Entertainment Weekly: Low-budget but visually stunning. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: There is no excuse not to see it. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: From its opening shots, where the camera looks down on a solemn funeral procession, Othello exhibits Welles' flair for dramatic compositions. Read more

Time Out: The visual rhetoric is synchronised with the verbal imagery: they hit sensory overload together. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: A Shakespeare movie that lives and breathes like few others. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Film is an impressive rendering of the Shakespearean tragedy. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: Othello came together in defiance of any unifying principle beyond the scrappy vision of its director. It's a work of seat-of-the-pants grandeur. Read more

Elliott Stein, Village Voice: Individual scenes are in an unrestrainedly operatic bravura style, and while the film succeeds visually, it ultimately fails as drama. Read more