Restoration and Controversy
In 1992, Beatrice Welles-Smith, daughter of Orson Welles, supervised the restoration of the film, which saw over $1 million spent on improving the picture quality, re-synching the audio, adding extra sound effects, and completely re-recording the music in stereo.
However, film critic and Welles authority Jonathan Rosenbaum has been highly critical of the work. He has argued that numerous changes were made to Welles' intent and that the restoration was incompetent (using as its source an original distribution print with a technically flawed soundtrack.) Further, he states that in her refusing to give permission for her father's version to be shown or released, Beatrice "effectively made her father’s version of the film (as well as, more indirectly, his final feature, Filming Othello), illegal, so that she can make more money on her own version", since she only receives royalties on the version which she restored.
As of 2011, the 1992 restoration is out-of-print in the U.S., while the two versions released by Welles remain unavailable.
Read more about this topic: Othello (1952 Film)
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