 Welles had previously produced a Broadway stage adaptation of nine Shakespeare plays called Five Kings in 1939 . In 1960 , he revived this project in Ireland as Chimes at Midnight , which was his final on @-@ stage performance . Neither of these plays was successful , but Welles considered portraying Falstaff to be his life 's ambition and turned the project into a film . Throughout its production , Welles struggled to find financing and at one point , to get money , he lied to producer Emiliano Piedra about intending to make a version of Treasure Island . Welles shot Chimes at Midnight throughout Spain between 1964 and 1965 , and premiered it at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival , where it won two awards . 
