04.19.05
Movie Review: Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Oh, Orson Welles, should you be revered for your talent or chided for your stubbornness? After a successful (and profitable) career as a musician, radio broadcaster and theatrical director, he settled into a frustrating film career which was only appreciated after his death. Chimes at Midnight is his creatively low-budget, but extremely satisfying, adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays, with pieces of Henry V, Richard II and some dialogue from The Merry Wives of Windsor woven in.

Welles’ screenplay brings the beloved supporting character of Sir John Falstaff front and center, as the fat and cowardly bohemian companion to the wayward Prince Hal, soon to become Henry V. And who wouldn’t rather hang out with Falstaff, rather than being groomed to be the future king? Hal and Falstaff bide their time drinking in taverns and playing elaborate pranks on their friends, but duty calls when Hal is sent by his father, Henry IV, to quash a rebellion for the crown- and upon King Henry’s death, his son ascends to the throne and rejects his old friend.

The international supporting cast includes John Gielgud, Margaret Rutherford, Jeanne Moreau and Keith Baxter as Prince Hal. The VHS copy of the movie I got had both its visual and audio elements intact, which I understand is not always the case with this film. (It sounds like in some quarters it’s practically considered a lost film it’s so hard to find a copy of.) Happily, in late 2004 a full scale restoration was undertaken by the same team that restored Welles’ Othello. Hopefully, a theatrical re-release and DVD release will be coming soon.