2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. There's no shortage of ways to mark the occasion, but here's one you may have overlooked: Chimes at Midnight, Orson Welles' expertly conjured 1966 alchemy of Shakespeare history plays, has been digitally restored and released in Blu-ray by Criterion.
Like so many of Welles' post-Citizen Kane films, Chimes has been through the ringer over the years. Rights issues kept it in limbo, and available prints were badly damaged. The newly released version is a feast for the eyes that stands with the 1998 restoration of Welles' noir gem Touch of Evil as a posthumous happy ending for the movies' enfant terrible.
The main source material here is Henry IV, Part I and Part II. It's among the most resonant of Shakespeare's storylines: Prince Hal (Keith Baxter) is torn between the merry tavern life of Falstaff (who Welles was born to play) and his stern father, the king (John Gielgud, merely one of the all-time great Shakespearean actors). It's the story of a callow young party boy forced to grow up.
A full arsenal of Welles' visual tricks is on display here, including the deep focus interiors that allow the viewer to see background and foreground with equal clarity. The centerpiece is the Battle of Shrewsbury. The masterful editing makes you feel each blow, and the mud enhances the dirty chaos.
If Welles was indeed born to play Falstaff, he certainly knew it. By the '60s he had the physical heft, though he still wore padding to emphasize it. More important he had the mix of wit and pathos, the hunger of wanting the party to last forever but the knowledge that it can't. The emotional climax, wherein the newly crowned king publicly renounces his old friend - "I know thee not, old man" - is among the most devastating moments in Shakespeare's work, and Chimes brings it home to haunting effect, thanks largely to the wounded smirk on Welles' face.
