Chimes at Midnight (1965)

Following his attempts to bring to stage Fives Kings, his combined version of five Shakespearean plays, Orson Welles took his obsession to play the character of Falstaff to this production in which he wrote, directed, and starred. Falstaff spends his days carousing with the young Prince Hal, much to the chagrin of the Prince’s father King Henry IV. It comes across as a medieval buddy comedy with a youth and his wayward mentor that culminates in a grand battle scene and an unfortunate ending. My lack of a Shakespearean education had me following the wikipedia synopsis while watching, but I still rather enjoyed both Welles’s portrayal and the cohesive way he combined the group of plays.