I selected the scene of Othello slaps Desdemona from scene 1 in Act 4. It is because this is one of the most dramatic scene in the story so far. Othello’s rage makes him to slap Desdemona in front of other people like Iago and Lodovico.

I watched the Orson Welles version first. It is a black-and-white film. The slap scene is in around 58:40. Orson Welles version had some changes from the original text of Othello. The slap scene in this version was dramatized by capturing Othello facial expression with close-up shots. There were some lines from the original text were replaced by Othello close-up shots such as from line 233-240.

After I watched Orson Welles version, I watched the clip from Laurence Fishburne/Kenneth Branagh version of Othello. This is a color film and more modern compare to Welles version. This version completely followed the original Othello text. The plot of each character was completely the same with the text.

I personally prefer Laurence Fishburne version of Othello than Orson Welles version. It is not only because Fishburne version is more modern and easier to watch, but the completenss of the entire scene. As I mentioned, director of Orson Welles version of Othello decided to cut off some line from the text and replaced them with extra close-up shots to capture Othello facial expression. This is a good idea but people who did not read the original story may not understand. Both version have similar cinematic composition and arrangement. I personally think Fishburne did a great job in portraiting Othello and he is better than Orson Welles.