150 Word Review: 'Chimes At Midnight' (1965)
O my sweet beef
Orson Welles portrays jolly Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare's celebrated reprobate, in Chimes at Midnight, a surprisingly urgent and existential black-and-white mash-up of Ol' Jack's greatest hits from Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Welles also directs on a shoestring budget, and the result is a tragic comedy about a hungry, scheming mentor and his aloof protégé, who will one day be king, drunkenly insulting each other.
Falstaff is one of the Bard's most popular characters—a fool and a rogue who glows with life. He is beloved because he is human: a likeable, fallible sinner who lacks impulse control. Aren’t we all? Welles' Falstaff is a horny, alcoholic Santa Claus, Keith Baxter's Prince Hal a vulnerable two-faced. John Gielgud almost walks away with the movie as Henry IV, a deeply disappointed father. The medieval lowlifes are all wonderfully filthy.
#ICYMI 150 Word Review: ‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)
