The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice is a 1969 drama short film directed by Orson Welles based on William Shakespeare's play of the same name. While actually completed, it is frequently cited as an unfinished film, though better described as a partially lost film due to the loss of film elements. Cast Orson Welles as Shylock. Charles Gray as Antonio. Irina Maleeva as Jessica. Jonathan Lynn as Tubal. Anthony Ainley as Bassanio. Dorian Bond as Launcelot Gobbo. Further cast members were Bill Cronshaw, Mauro Bonanni and Nina Palinkas. Bonnani was not a professional actor, but an editor who was then working on Welles's Don Quixote, while Palinkas was the younger sister of Oja Kodar, whose real name was Olga Palinkas. Production Differing sources give the film's running time as between 30 and 40 minutes. Welles started work on the film in 1969. It was originally produced as part of his abandoned 90-minute television special, Orson's Bag, which was made for CBS; but later that year, with the project close to completion, CBS withdrew their funding over Welles' long-running disputes with US authorities regarding his tax status, and so Welles completed the film as an independent project. Filming commenced in Venice, but when financial troubles began, production was relocated to Dubrovnik, and parts of the Dalmatian Coast, which were less expensive to film in and doubled for Venice; and filming was completed in Rome, where Welles was editing Don Quixote. The film itself was a shortened version of the play, Welles even eliminated the character of Portia from the film after his mistress Oja Kodar declined the role, due to her then-limited knowledge of English. Francesco Lavagnino, who had written the musical scores of Welles's previous two Shakespeare films, Othello (1952) and Chimes at Midnight (1966), provided a full musical score for this film.