Otello, Comando Negro

Alternative title: Othello, The Black Commando
Synopsis: Feature film. A French-Spanish derivative of Othello set in the late 1970s in which Othello is cast as a mercenary soldier fighting in Africa. Courtney Lehmann in Shakespeares After Shakespeare (op cit) writes: ‘Poised somewhere between blaxploitation film - replete with a funk soundtrack composed by Boulois himself - and European art cinema, this ambitious adaptation is as telling in its shortcomings as it is in its successes’.
Language: English
Country: Spain; France
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1982
Duration: 103 mins

Director

Max H. Boulois

Cinematographer

Domingo Solano

Screenplay

Max H. Boulois

Cast

General: Shakespeare’s name is misspelt in the credits.
Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies are used as background music.
History: It was released on video in Great Britain in 1992 under the title OTHELLO.
Reviews: Variety (22 December 1982). The reviewer commented ‘Boulois throttles the gal, Iago bites the dust, and Othello commits suicide’.
Lehmann, Courtney in ‘Film Adaptations’ in Burt, Richard (ed). Shakespeares After Shakespeares: an Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006. (p115, entry 457).

SHAKESPEARE