FILM TITLE: CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT DIRECTOR: ORSON WELLES COUNTRY: USA CAST: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Margaret Rutherford, John Gielgud, Marina Vlady, Keith Baxter and the voice of Ralph Richardson. SUPER FEATURES: One of the best Willie type of works ever done.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pauline Kael said " Welles ... has directed a sequence, The Battle of Shrewesbury, which is unlike anything he has ever done on screen before. It ranks with the best of Griffith, Ford, Eisenstein and Kurosawa -- that is, with the best ever done. "
And, truthfully, were it not for the stuffy professors who promptly junked this film as blasphemy, and were it not for the timing of the film, it might have been received today as quite an original, and exciting masterpiece of writing as well. All in all, this is the story of FALSTAFF, the happy go lucky Shakespeare character who felt slighted when his best friend, Henry, became king and stopped being one of the boys. Taken from the various plays in which this character appears, a complete story was written by Orson Welles, and wrapped up neatly into a small film, in black and white, to show the side of the story of the character that Shakespeare didn't have time to work on. And he is the only character that appears in more than one play.
And we follow the young Henry and his escapades with the drunken fool and exciting, and never boring fat man, Falstaff. Through the many bars, to the many women, to the few battles they went on, the young Henry is a good warrior, and also a wild young man. But it all changes the day he becomes king. He forsakes his friends, and leaves them all behind, and in one scene, he doesn't even recognize them. And the older Falstaff, is crushed. He is hurt. Henry was one of his few friends, and while the drunkard, and crazy Falstaf, may have wished for better times and life, he can never get out of his rut. Henry seems to be aware of that.
While a fascinating acting exercise for many, since the combination of various plays into one script creates a new character per se, this film is very memorable, specially the battle scenes, where Falstaf has to depend on his wily, cunning, and even accidental, ways to get things accomplished. While the dialogue, and film, never make it quite clear, nevertheless it is inferred that the main reason why this man is not worthy of the royal class, is because his only royalty ( and loyalty ) is to drinking.
IF EVER RELEASED ON VIDEO, THIS IS A MUST SEE. IF YOU ARE A WILLY MAJOR FORGET THIS FILM. It was the same professors which went on an intellectual rampage to destroy this film, which caused much harm, and sadness, to Orson Welles, who plays Falstaf. And Orson Welles's versions of Shakespeare were somewhat neurotic, but they were never boring, or worthless. This film is the same.
BEAUTIFUL CINEMATOGRAPHY. 5 GIBLOONS
Copyright (c) Pedro Sena 1994
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