THE CRITIC AND HIS CRITICS

Although Zeffirelli’s “Otello” indeed has shortcomings, the positive points far outweigh the negative.

Bernheimer, with his insults and unwarranted vitriol, lets very little in “Otello” escape his morbid and studied destructiveness. His review of the film is so flagrant in its pettiness and gutter vituperation that an objective critic must conclude that he has blood-vengeance on his mind. He has ranged from reducing Placido Domingo, one of the world’s great tenors, to a producer of “noises,” and to calling the film as a whole a “perversion.”

Everyone who likes either opera or spectacular and gorgeous cinema should see Zeffirelli’s “Otello.” Anyone who enters the theater with an objective mind, taking into account the inherent differences and problems of stage/opera and film, will enjoy himself.

DANIEL R. GAVALDON

Los Angeles