Whoreson Welles

Chimes at Midnight (1965) seems like a good movie to ring out 2017 on. It is Orson Welles’ take on Falstaff,  combining a bunch of Shakespeare’s History plays. It appears to have been made on a shoestring, with Spanish hills masquerading as England, and a bare stone cathedral standing in for a castle - but beautiful.

Basically, the rascal Falstaff entertains Prince Hal, along with a disreputable crew at Mistress Quickly’s (Margaret Rutherford) tavern. When Hal’s father, John Gielgud, dies, Hal repudiates Falstaff. He dies and is mourned by his low companions, including the prostitute Dolly Tearsheet (Jeanne Moreau - not very English). In between there is a great battle scene, filmed with the most minimal number of extras and horses, but made great by skillful editing.

The whole thing is all tied together with a great condensation of Shakespeare’s writing. HOWEVER, and this is the movie’s fatal flaw, the sound recording is a bit muddy (probably recorded on location). It has a nice “presence” and atmosphere, but you can’t always hear the lines. Of course, it can be challenging to understand Shakespeare with modern ears, but this doesn’t help.

What I did understand were some of the great insults from the play. In particular, Falstaff is called “whoreson” any number of times. I can only assume that Welles understood it as a pun on his name.