2. Chimes at Midnight
When David Lynch spoke of Jacques Tati, he referred to the French artist’s life as a sadness. (Tati died destitute after his 1967 film, Playtime, lost an astronomical amount of money). The same could be said about Orson Welles, one of American cinema’s greatest contributors. Welles also died a broke — and broken — man. Now all people seem to remember is that he made Citizen Kane. Then he gained weight and died. What people seem to dismiss is that Welles made so many great films after Kane.
Chimes at Midnight, Orson Welles’ greatest film, is also his least known. The film is a daring blend of Shakespeare’s Henry IV parts one and two, Richard III, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, and using one of Shakespeare’s key sources for the history plays, Holinshed’s Chronicles. As Falstaff, Welles gives his most incredible performance, even if his intention was to be only stodgily “faithful” to the text.
Chimes at Midnight is everything other Shakespearian films are not: brutish, earthly, messy, and also fraught with emotion. It’s a film all about Shakespeare, and all about Welles, simultaneously.
Continue reading on the next page…
