Chimes at Midnight (1966) - film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth, Parts One and Two

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

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Adapted mainly from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2. Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Keith Baxter, John Gielgud, Margaret Rutherford, Jeanne Moreau. Black and white. 111 minutes.

Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight is based on a radical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, 1 and 2. The plays are substantially cut to make the Falstaff/Hal and Hal/Henry relationships the substance of the drama, scenes are re-positioned across the two plays, speeches are reassigned to other characters, and additional passages are brought in from Richard II, Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Holinshed’s English

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Citation: Fraser, Duncan. "Chimes at Midnight (1966) - film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth, Parts One and Two". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19435, accessed 29 March 2024.]

19435 Chimes at Midnight (1966) - film adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry the Fourth, Parts One and Two 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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