A DISTINGUISHED COMPANY BREATHES LIFE INTO SHAKESPEARE’S LUSTY AGE OF FALSTAFF.

In the early 1400s, King Henry IV (John Gielgud) is annoyed with his son (Keith Baxter) who spends most of his time in the company of a rowdy, lying knight (Orson Welles).

One of the director’s personal favorites, this inventive take on Shakespeare, centering the character of Falstaff in a story that borrows dialogue and events from several of the Bard’s plays, originated in a separate stage project conceived by Welles in 1939. In spite of a troubled production, his passion shines through and he’s terrific as the rotund, cowardly and lustful Falstaff.

The film is a tragic but lively depiction of power that corrupts.

1966-Spain-France-Switzerland. 119 min. B/W. Written and directed by Orson Welles. Cinematography: Edmond Richard. Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino. Cast: Orson Welles (Sir John Falstaff), Keith Baxter (Prince Hal), John Gielgud (Henry IV), Margaret Rutherford, Jeanne Moreau, Alan Webb, Fernando Rey. Narrated by Ralph Richardson. 

Trivia: Released in most of Europe as Falstaff. Spanish title: Campanadas a medianoche. Welles promised the film’s Spanish producer that he would simultaneously shoot an adaptation of ”Treasure Island”, never intending to do so.

Last word: “The film was not intended as a lament for Falstaff, but for the death of Merrie England. Merrie England as a conception, a myth which has been very real to the English-speaking world, and is to some extent expressed in other countries of the Medieval epoch: the age of chivalry, of simplicity, of Maytime and all that. It is more than Falstaff who is dying. It’s the old England dying and betrayed.” (Welles, “Chimes at Midnight”)