says waitress Shelley Winters (Pat) in the funniest line from the film. She's a waitress that has a dalliance with esteemed stage actor Ronald Colman (Anthony). She looks slim in this film but as soon as you recognize her, it's pretty obvious about her fate. The film is about weirdo Colman losing his identity in the roles that he plays and so, of course, his next role is Othello where he gets to murder Desdemona every night. This is pretty obvious stuff.
The idea is fine but everything about the film can be anticipated, especially as it is told at such a snail's pace. Boring? Yep. Especially as they throw in huge segments of the actual Shakespearean performance of Othello. I didn't buy a film about the play but this is what you end up watching. You get huge irrelevant sections of the very boring play. The best version of the Othello death scene is done by the cast of Cheers. As this film seems to contain so much footage of the Othello performance, it is aptly relevant to review the Cheers performance as a comparison. Cheers does it way better!
There are some nice techniques employed in the film to convey Colman's madness but the story doesn't make any sense at all – from the initial idea of the actor going mad and losing his identity in his role, to the ludicrous relationship he has with ex-wife and fellow actress Signe Hasso (Brita), to the insultingly daft investigation into the killer being caught. The film, unfortunately, just drags even in spite of Whit Bissell turning up in a small role. I recommend you watch the Cheers episode instead of this for a much more realistic and funnier tale of a man being consumed by jealousy and acting out the Othello thing.
The idea is fine but everything about the film can be anticipated, especially as it is told at such a snail's pace. Boring? Yep. Especially as they throw in huge segments of the actual Shakespearean performance of Othello. I didn't buy a film about the play but this is what you end up watching. You get huge irrelevant sections of the very boring play. The best version of the Othello death scene is done by the cast of Cheers. As this film seems to contain so much footage of the Othello performance, it is aptly relevant to review the Cheers performance as a comparison. Cheers does it way better!
There are some nice techniques employed in the film to convey Colman's madness but the story doesn't make any sense at all – from the initial idea of the actor going mad and losing his identity in his role, to the ludicrous relationship he has with ex-wife and fellow actress Signe Hasso (Brita), to the insultingly daft investigation into the killer being caught. The film, unfortunately, just drags even in spite of Whit Bissell turning up in a small role. I recommend you watch the Cheers episode instead of this for a much more realistic and funnier tale of a man being consumed by jealousy and acting out the Othello thing.