--- title: "Othello: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/othello/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/othello" critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Othello (1951): what the critics said Critics' score 76 from 12 reviews: 9 positive, 2 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics admire this Othello, and the praise gathers almost entirely around Welles the director. The reviews return to how he turned a starved, interrupted production into a style: locations stitched together across countries, stand-ins, jump cuts and disorienting compositions that put the audience inside the Moor’s head rather than in front of the plot. Several call it the most cinematic Shakespeare on film, and the later reviews, written around restorations, treat its raggedness as part of the appeal. Welles’s voice and MacLiammoir’s Iago are noted approvingly. The reservations sit on the same point, turned over. The dissenters, chiefly the American critics who saw it on first release in the 1950s, find the staircases, mirrors and chaotic sound a set of tricks that bury the story; The New York Times calls the result hollow. The Independent, writing at the 1992 restoration, grants the flair but finds the film tatty and the locations distracting. The spread is wide, though the rejection is old and the admiration recent. ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 April 1992. The critic hails the restored film as a breathtaking achievement that overcomes its troubled production history, praising its audacious visual style and stripped-down intensity. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-19-ca-725-story.html) ## Time Out — TR Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. Welles turned production limitations into strengths through inventive locations, stand-ins and montage in this Shakespeare adaptation shot over four years. The visual rhetoric syncs with the verbal imagery for sensory overload in a very great film noir. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/othello) ## Empire — Alan Morrison Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic calls this the most cinematic of Shakespeare adaptations, crediting Welles' direction for suggesting characters' psychological states through inventive camera work and locations. Welles' genius behind the camera is singled out for bringing one of the Bard's darkest plays to life. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/othello-review/) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 2017. The critic praises the Criterion Collection's restoration and transfer of Welles's audaciously personal Othello, highlighting its fragmented editing syntax and psychological depth achieved through jump cuts and disorienting compositions. He singles out the film's experimental style and the supplements that contextualize its chaotic production and racial themes. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/othello/) ## Evening Standard — Nina Caplan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 11 April 2012. The review praises Welles as a truly gifted director in this powerful adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy, made despite chronic funding shortages. It highlights the film's ability to overcome its difficult production history, especially in a decent print with restoration extras. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/orson-welless-othello-7228376.html) ## Film Comment — Aaron Cutler Fi1m's normalised score 78/100 (inferred from the text). 1 May 2014. The critic describes Welles's 1952 Othello as an inventive adaptation that prioritizes reflection on the protagonist's self-deception over suspense, using motifs of imprisonment, mirrors, and fragmented imagery to convey the Moor's internal conflict and tragic isolation. It notes the film's stylistic coherence despite its piecemeal production and positions Othello among Welles's other isolated protagonists. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/othello-orson-welles/) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 78/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1951. Festival review. The review calls the film an impressive rendering of the tragedy that builds power after a murky start, highlighting strong performances by Welles and MacLiammoir and effective use of locations. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/othello-1200417205/) ## The Independent — Adam Mars-Jones Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 1992. The critic finds Welles' restored Othello a film of great flair but considerable tattiness, with striking locations that sometimes distract from the drama. He singles out the opening sequence as the director's most satisfactory showcase for his skills. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-putting-the-bard-through-his-paces-adam-marsjones-on-the-contrasting-approaches-to-filming-shakespeare-represented-by-christine-edzard-s-new-version-of-as-you-like-it-and-orson-welles-s-restored-version-1556320.html) ## The New Yorker — Philip Hamburger Fi1m's normalised score 57/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 1955. The critic praises Welles's voice and delivery as Othello but criticizes the film's overreliance on visual gimmicks like staircases, chaotic sound design, and undisciplined staging that obscures the story. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1955/09/17/the-moor) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 44/100 (inferred from the text). 13 September 1955. The critic finds Welles's adaptation prioritizes visual spectacle and cinematic tricks over Shakespeare's plot and substance, resulting in an impressionistic but ultimately hollow film. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/13/archives/screen-orson-welles-revises-othello-scraps-shakespeares-plot-for.html) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating B+. 6 May 2015. The critic calls Welles’ Palme d’Or-winning 1952 adaptation a very peculiar kind of masterpiece that is both suffocatingly dense and scrappily ragged. It bears the hallmarks of its troubled, interrupted production yet shows extraordinary shotmaking and singleminded directorial confidence, resulting in a broken but monumental magnificent ruin. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/essential-films-orson-welles-retrospective-directorial-career-20150506/2/) ## Paste — Andy Crump Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 23 June 2023. Welles’ Othello is mandatory viewing for anyone wanting to make a movie on a shoestring budget. The film is a fascinating, Expressionist take on Shakespeare’s tragedy, made possible by the director’s moxie, quick-wittedness and sheer tenacity of vision. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/1950s/best-movies-1950s) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/othello.md