Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight) (1965 Orson Welles)

Made fast and cheaply in Spain - Jeanne Moreau and John Gielgud were only available for five and ten days respectively, and doubles were deployed lavishly throughout. Welles' condensation of several plays comes down to the story of a triangular relationship between Price Hal, his 'foster father' Falstaff and his real father King Henry IV, and how he ultimately rejects the 'good man' Falstaff, one of Orson's favourite characters. Keith Baxter is Prince Hal; with Margaret Rutherford, Walter Chiari, Jeremy Rowe, Alan Webb, Norman Rodway, Fernando Rey (didn't recognise him), Charles Farrell, Beatrice Welles.

Quite successful, would actually like to see it again - with the highlight being a six minute battle which took ten days to shoot and six weeks to edit (credited to Fritz Muller but of course undertaken by Welles himself.) Photographed by Edmond Richard.

I loved Jean Cocteau's description of Welles as " a dog who has broken free from his chains and gone to sleep in the flower bed".