Not only is William Shakespeare arguably England’s greatest poet and playwright, he certainly has legs. The Bard’s influence has been felt all around the globe. His plays have been translated into virtually every language, and filmmakers in such diverse cultures as those of India, Japan and Argentina have adapted his work for the silver screen.
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll be giving the Bard “the boot,” as we turn our attention to Italy, with two films by Orson Welles and two by Franco Zeffirelli.
Just about everyone knows about Welles’ difficulties in Hollywood after skewering William Randolph Hearst in “Citizen Kane.” But Welles also was never one to take compromise lightly. As a result, he was frequently forced to strike out on his own, secure his own funding and come up with creative solutions when the money ran out.
There is a famous bit of ingenuity on display in Welles’ adaptation of “Othello” (1949). The film was shot on and off over a period of three years and at various locales in Italy and Tunisia, as Welles would race off to earn money by acting in other pictures. One important scene was shot in a Turkish bath, with the actors clad in towels, since Welles’ couldn’t pay for the necessary costumes.
For the music, Welles employed Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, a classically trained musician who, after a career in concert hall and conservatory, turned to film in the 1950s. He became one of the best-known Italian film composers of the era. He was actually Sergio Leone’s first choice to score “A Fistful of Dollars,” but his distributor insisted he use a young, less well-established Ennio Morricone instead.
Lavagnino would be engaged by Welles for several other projects, including a television movie of “The Merchant of Venice.” Sadly, as was generally the case with Welles’ later films, lack of funding played a role in keeping “Don Quixote” from reaching the scoring stage.
Lavagnino received very little or even no payment for his work on Welles’ pictures, though he was honored to collaborate with the legendary director. For his part, Welles was only too happy to work with Lavagnino, whose music he admired, certainly. But there was an additional incentive in that, in Italy, it was the practice that record companies would pay for everything – orchestration, recording and everything else – since they kept the rights.
“Chimes at Midnight” (1965), Welles’ compilation of the Falstaff plays, though a Spanish-Swiss production, was also scored by Lavignino. Welles’ performance in the picture is considered to be one of his finest. Also in the cast were John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau and Margaret Rutherford. Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote that “Chimes at Midnight” “… may be the greatest Shakespearean film ever made, bar none.” Lavagnino modeled much of his score on Early Music, since Welles had used a lot of it on the temp track. (Coincidentally, this film is now on the schedule of the Princeton Garden Theatre.)
Speaking of Morricone, he was very well-established by the time he was approached by director Franco Zeffirelli to score his screen adaptation of “Hamlet” (1990). The film featured a venerable supporting cast, with Glenn Close, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Bates and Paul Scofield, and Mel Gibson did a surprisingly respectable job as the lead. At the time, Gibson was known for his action roles.
Zeffirelli has had notable success adapting Shakespeare, both for film and the operatic stage. He directed a lively film version of “The Taming of the Shrew,” with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and an adaptation of Verdi’s “Otello,” with Placido Domingo recreating one of his most celebrated roles.
By far, however, his biggest success came with “Romeo and Juliet” (1968). Much was made of the fact that the film’s leads, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey, were closer than usual to the age of the characters in the play. “Romeo and Juliet” became one of the great date movies and retains its broad appeal. The score, by Nino Rota, spawned a popular hit, “A Time for Us.”
I hope you’ll join me for “Shakespeare Italian-Style,” this Friday evening at 6 EDT, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.
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