Thursday, August 04, 2016

"Chimes" in Sarasota

Margaret writes to tell us that the new Criterion version of Chimes at Midnight, Orson Welles's unique rendering of Falstaff, will soon be available at our libraries:
Five copies of Chimes At Midnight were ordered by the Sarasota Library system on 7-22-16 - one for each branch. I'm #2 on the reserved list. The reviews and cast Are excellent!
I saw the film many years ago - despite the wear of time and tape, it was unforgettable.

The New Yorker's Richard Brody offers some remarks that might apply to Verdi and Boito's Falstaff as well:
Falstaff is great—at “nothing,” in Shakespeare’s phrase—but a nothing which, as Falstaff himself knows and says, is “all the world.” He flaunts the open maw of desire, the sumptuous thrill of pleasure. He embodies the brazenly lighthearted and insolent, proud and arrogant hero, the very soul of illicit dreams—the principle of life itself, of a vitality that knows no shadow, that itself casts a dazzling artificial light that overwhelms reason even as it sharpens wit.

 Looking forward to the Criterion edition. Once again the trailer:





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