Othello

Othello commands the Venetian army and has just married Desdemona. His ensign Iago, passed over for promotion, takes it as a wrong done to him and decides to bring his commander down from the inside. Step by step he builds the lie that Desdemona has been unfaithful. Othello believes it. Jealousy carries all of them off before long. Stuart Burge's film was shot as a record of the National Theatre's 1964 staging. Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Frank Finlay and Joyce Redman were all four nominated for Oscars. Olivier played the part in blackface; that is what the film is criticised for most today, and screenings now carry a note about it. In terms of the acting, it remains one of the most talked about Shakespeare records of its period.