Released in Europe to acclaim in 1952 , '' Othello '' won the '' Grand Prix du Festival International du Film '' at the Cannes Film Festival under the Moroccan flag . Welles could not find the film a distributor in the United States for over three years , and even after its U.S. release it was largely ignored . The film was re-released to theaters in a 1992 restoration that screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and was shown to acclaim in the United States . The film has a 93 % approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 32 reviews with an average rating of 7.9 / 10 . The website 's critical consensus states , " This ragged take on Othello may take liberties with the source material , but Orson Welles 's genius never fails to impress . " In 1992 , Beatrice Welles-Smith , daughter of Orson Welles , supervised the restoration of the film , which saw over $ 1 million spent on improving the picture quality , re-synching the audio , adding extra sound effects , and completely re-recording the music in stereo . Although the restoration was greeted with positive reviews upon its release , it subsequently came under attack for numerous technical flaws and alterations . Further alterations were made between the restoration 's theatrical release and its home media release , after complaints that the opening scene lacked the Gregorian chanting it had previously had , and another scene was missing entirely . This is the only version which has been available on VHS and DVD since the mid-1990s , since legal action by Beatrice Welles has blocked either version released by Orson Welles from being sold . This version runs to 91 minutes
1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
Othello (1951 film)