Please note that the following three filmmakers have directed a version of William Shakespeare's play, "Othello." They are Tim Blake Nelson, Tony Richardson and Orson Welles. With Kenneth Branagh, he is a noted director. But, in "Othello" we are spared his skills as a director. We are treated to Branagh the actor. In this play he gives perhaps his best performance as the tortured Machiavellian officer Iago.

It’s hard not to root for Iago (Branagh), who takes such pleasure in his evil schemes, in his own thoughtful soliloquies, in his insults. Othello has Shakespeare’s sharpest insult, by the way: “You are a Senator!” And Branagh gives him an occasional mugging before the film camera. We thereby become Branagh's confederates for the virtuoso performance that he provides.

As stated, the other filmmakers listed did direct "Othello." In Tim Blake Nelson’s “O” (2001), which is an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello," it is set in a modern private high school and featured a black star basketball player named Odin (Mekhi Phifer) as its central character. With Tony Richardson at the Royal Court's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in April 1959, he directed "Othello" with Paul Robeson playing Othello. Orson Welles was the director in the1951 film version of the play where he played the star role as Othello.

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