The Merchant of Venice (partially found Orson Welles film; 1969)

Orson Welles in a still from the film.

Status: Partially Found

The Merchant of Venice is an unreleased 1969 made-for-TV adaptation of the Shakespeare play of the same name produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. It co-starred Charles Gray and Irina Maleeva and was filmed in Italy and Yugoslavia during a break from another unfinished project, The Deep.

It was intended to have been aired as part of a 90-minute special called Orson's Bag. However, as the project was close to completion, CBS withdrew their funding due to Welles' tax disputes, forcing him to complete the project with his own money. After a screening of the film, the second and third reels of his workprint were stolen, leaving only the original negatives, which were silent.

The film has never been given a public release minus several clips from the documentary, One Man Band. In 2015, Stefan Roessler made the announcement that a restoration of the film, running approximately 36 minutes, was being reconstructed through salvaged footage.

Gallery

Footage from the One Man Band documentary

External Link

• Wikipedia page for the film. Retrieved 31 Mar '19

Reference