Chimes at Midnight (1965)

IMDb plot summary: When King Henry IV ascends to the throne, his heir, the Prince of Wales, is befriended by Sir John Falstaff, an old, overweight, fun-loving habitual liar. Through Falstaff's eyes we see the reign of King Henry IV and the rise of Henry V.

Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, and Margaret Rutherford.

Chimes at Midnight is Orson Welles' cinematic retelling of Shakespeare's Henry history plays, focusing nearly all the action through the eyes of the young carefree prince's constant companion, Falstaff. Welles himself plays Falstaff and we see his friendship with the prince change over the course of the film. Shakespeare's histories have never been my favorite of his plays, and I struggled as always to connect with this story on an emotional level. Welles is, of course, a very engaging orator, and his Falstaff monologues were fairly engaging, but there's just not much else for me to latch onto. I admire what it's trying to do, and, on a very specific note, I really appreciated the range of vocal choices being made by all the actors throughout. Even when I couldn't care about the story, I could just appreciate the vocal work bringing all the minor characters to live. If I was a bigger fan of the original histories, I'm sure this would be a more compelling watch, but as it was, it was well-done and I was unmoved.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Chimes at Midnight < Le voyage au Groenland

Chimes at Midnight > Ulysses

Chimes at Midnight < The Happiest Millionaire

Chimes at Midnight > Father of the Bride (1950)

Chimes at Midnight > National Velvet

Chimes at Midnight > BlackBerry

Chimes at Midnight > For Your Consideration

Chimes at Midnight > Call Me By Your Name

Chimes at Midnight < The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Chimes at Midnight > Jezebel

Chimes at Midnight < Wild Zero

Chimes at Midnight > The Secret of Nikola Tesla

Final spot: #2472 out of 3940, or 37%.