Othello (1952 Film) - Different Versions of The Film

Different Versions of The Film

There are at least three different versions of the film, the first two supervised by Orson Welles:

• 1) The original cut which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 10 May 1952, and then went on general release in Europe. Unlike the later American cut, the soundtrack was generally without flaws, apart from some dubbing which was slightly out of sync. It features different edits of many scenes from the other two versions, with alternate camera angles used. This is now out of print, and the only domestic release was a 1990 French VHS cassette with French subtitles, as part of the "Palme d'or - Fil à film" series. This version ran to 92 minutes.
• 2) The cut for the American market, released on 12 September 1955 in New York. This had a number of minor editing changes and several major soundtrack changes, including Welles' replacement of his spoken-word titles with written credits (a change requested by the film's distributor United Artists), Suzanne Cloutier's entire performance being dubbed by Gudrun Ure, and the addition of a narration by Welles. (Ure, who dubs Desdemona in this version, had previously played the role opposite Welles in a 1951 stage production of Othello - a production that was staged to raise funds to complete the film.) This version runs to 93 minutes.
• 3) The "restored" version supervised by Welles' daughter Beatrice in 1992, with a new stereo musical score and various other changes to the soundtrack and editing. This is the version which has been available on VHS and DVD since the mid-1990s, since legal action by Beatrice Welles has blocked either version released by Orson Welles from being sold. This version runs to 91 minutes.