Orson Welles – The Merchant of Venice [Rushes] (1970)

Footage from Shylock’s monologue filmed by Orson Welles in connection with his unfinished film The Merchant of Venice.
According to the accompanying notes by Hervé Pichard, head of restoration at La Cinémathèque Francaise, the rushes were restored in 2025 by the film museum. The 4K work was carried out using a 16mm double-strip work print (Eastmancolor film, 1969) deposited in its collections by Welles’ longtime companion and collaborator Oja Kodar.

The outdoor footage of Welles performing the monologue in a trench coat is not to be confused with his unfinished The Merchant of Venice short, filmed in 1969 for an aborted CBS television project, Orson’s Bag.

His plans for the monologue, shot during the period when he was engrossed in The Other Side of the Wind, are unknown.

“Did he want to film himself to listen to and judge his work, with the intention of finalizing his film? But then, why film himself in modern clothing, disregarding the historical context of his film? One thing is certain: these shots testify to his obsession with this tirade which he knew by heart and his desire to pursue his project,” Pichard writes.

The Merchant of Venice Rushes Orson Welles 1970.mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	30 min 27 s
Size: 	1.13 GiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	1920x1080 
Aspect ratio:  	16:9
Frame rate: 	24.000 fps
Bit rate: 	5 106 kb/s
BPP: 	0.103
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AAC LC @ 192 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/DD33A97A6AD2A59/The_Merchant_of_Venice_Rushes_Orson_Welles_1970.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:None