In the end of act IV scene I there is shocking scene that Othello slaps Desdemona in front of everyone and call her devil. After read the play I watched movies made by two different producers and found out some differences in the movies.

The first movie I saw was made by Orson Welles, and the slap scene happened around 57:30-59:00. I tried to watch the scene many times with and without reading the text. Orson’s version made me confused for a while, because it had many changes from the original play. The thing Orson did is that they cut out many conversations and add in a lot of emotions into Othello’s action, thus making everyone clearly see and think that there is something not right about Othello. Also Orson removed Iago’s presence from the scene and leading the illusion that he had no relation with the conflict.

The second movie is made by Lawrence Fishbourne. There are many differences from the previous movie, this one is filmed completely following the original play. Compare Othello’s action between two films, Orson “writes” the anger and sadness into his action and speech, and Fishbourne make him more calm showing Othello with more coldness in his speech.

The background of the scene is also very different between each versions. Orson’s version makes the scene more public and humiliating with lot of witness around, and Fishbourne’s version makes the scene more private but with much more tension around them.

The biggest difference I saw is the tone of Othello. In Orson’s version Othello looks desperate and in Fishbourne’s version shows more hatred.