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CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
(Campanadas a medianoche/Falstaff)
 

Director: Orson Welles
Year: 1965
Runtime: 115 min.
Country: Spain/Switzerland
Language: English
Color: B&W
Format: 16mm

The final masterpiece from Orson Welles, CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT is an austere, haunting work that reaches the greatness of Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons and Touch of Evil. Based on his 1938 Theater Guild Production, Welles meticulously assembled the Sir John Falstaff parts from Shakespeare's history plays (including Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor) and thematically linked them with Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles to explore the full arc of the character's relationship with Prince Hal—moving from grand affection to bitter disillusionment. Featuring the extraordinary montage sequence at the Battle of Shrewsbury. With Welles, John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau and Ralph Richardson supplying Holinshed's narration.


"One of Orson Welles' best and least-seen movies. Welles' direction of the battle of Shrewsbury is unlike any battle ever done on the screen before. It ranks with the best of Griffith, Ford, Eisenstein, Kurosawa."
— Pauline Kael, The New Yorker

"Welles...conjures a dark masterpiece, shot through with slapstick and sorrow. Magic."Time Out

"The one Welles film that deserves to be called lovely. It is ample proof of how sensitive and subtle an artist he is." — Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader


 

 
showtime
Monday, February 13 at 7 pm
location
THE GREEN ROOM
144 West Street (across from the Comstock Hotel)
admission
$6 general / $4 GBFS members