Main Cast: Richie Havens, Season Hubley, Lance Le Gault
Release Year: 1974
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Screenwriter John Good's rock & roll adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello is a real oddity and features some surprisingly good tunes. Set in the American Southwest, Othello is a wandering evangelist who happens onto Iago's remote commune. There he marries the lovely Desdemona much to the chagrin of Iago, who also loves her. The conniving commune leader then manages to quietly pressure Othello until murder and tragedy ensue. Songs include: "Othello", "Working on a Building," "Eat the Bread, Drink the Wine," "Book of Prophecy," "That's What God Said," "Chug a Lug," "Open Your Eyes," "Lust of the Blood," "Put Out the Light" and more. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
If anyone ever doubts that the '70s were a strange decade for cinema, they have only to watch Catch My Soul to find verification. In a way, it's emblematic of the decade, which encouraged a remarkable freedom of expression from its filmmakers; sometimes this resulted in highly individualistic masterpieces; other times it created dreck like Soul. Mind you, a lot of that dreck is highly watchable, in a "what could they have been thinking" kind of way, and Soul more than fits that bill. Director Patrick McGoohan had been involved (as an actor) in an imaginative and successful updating of Othello into the '50s jazz world (All Night Long), so perhaps he thought lightning would strike twice in moving it to a gospel show in the Southwest. He was terribly wrong. The re-setting is ham-handed and ridiculous, and the mixture of direct quotes from the play with contemporary slang is laughable. Laughable also describes every dramatic performance, as do horrible and unbelievable. (That said, some of the musical performances, especially from Richie Havens and Tony Joe White are quite good, and much of the music is worth hearing -- preferably on a turntable or 8-track, removed from the movie.) McGoohan's direction is labored, at best. Still, Soul is undeniably fascinating, a train wreck of a movie that inspires awe and that makes one appreciate a time when awful movies could be so bad in such an interesting way. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Bonnie Bramlett; Susan Tyrrell - Emilia; Delaney Bramlett; Tony Joe White - Cassio; Raleigh Gardenhire
Credit
Patrick McGoohan - Director, Richard A. Harris - Editor, Tony Joe White - Composer (Music Score), Delaney Bramlett - Musical Arrangement, Delaney Bramlett - Musical Direction/Supervision, Paul Glass - Musical Direction/Supervision, Conrad L. Hall - Cinematographer, Charles W. Fries - Producer, Jack Good - Producer, Richard Rosenbloom - Producer, Bob Post - Sound/Sound Designer, Jack Good - Screenwriter, William Shakespeare - Play Author
Catch My Soul is a 1974 film produced by Jack Good and Richard M. Rosenbloom, and directed by Patrick McGoohan. It was an adaptation of Good's stage musical of the same title, which itself was loosely adapted from William Shakespeare's Othello. It was not a critical success.
Shakespeare's tragedy of revenge and racism had been retitled for the London stage and relocated from Venice to Piccadilly; for the film, the location of the drama was moved to the New Mexico desert; filming took place in Espanola and Santa Fe. The title comes from Act III, Scene III of Shakespeare's play, in which Othello declares his love for Desdemona, "Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee; and when I love thee not, chaos is come again."[2]
Although much of the plot remains intact, Othello, the "noble Moor" becomes the pacifist leader of a hippiecommune,[3]Iago appears to be the Devil incarnate who "fits all the negative stereotypes of dropouts with his scruffy beard and unwashed look"[4] and Desdemona becomes a "white round-faced girl with granny glasses".[4]
Patrick McGoohan had earlier starred in the successful 1962 modernisation of the Othello story, All Night Long, which had been moved to 1960s London and fuelled by jazz music. Allmovie's reviewer points out that "perhaps he thought lightning would strike twice in moving it to a gospel show in the Southwest. He was terribly wrong."[5]Catch My Soul would be the only film to be directed by McGoohan,[6] although he later directed some episodes of Columbo.[7] In an interview with Premiere magazine in 1995, McGoohan gave some insight into why the film had failed:
“
I lived in New Mexico at that time and the producer did too. He'd heard I was available and that's how, after the hiatus that followed The Prisoner, I came back to the profession. Unhappily, in the process of making the film, he got religion. ... Catholicism. He became a convert; he took the film and re-cut it. The editor warned me, I asked that my name be taken off it, and, unhappily, that was not done. The result is a disaster. What's more, he added 18 minutes of religious stuff. Ridiculous. But the music was good. Ritchie wrote one or two marvellous songs. Again, it's one of those typical show business stories. Very sad.[6]
”
Of the cast, Richie Havens was well-known from his appearance at Woodstock Festival, but this was his first acting role; Lance LeGault had some experience, but not playing major roles; likewise Season Hubley and Susan Tyrell. Tony Joe White was already fairly well-known as a musician. Allmovie's Craig Butler was moved to comment "Laughable also describes every dramatic performance, as do horrible and unbelievable."[5]
Critical reviews of Catch My Soul were generally negative, Time Out's reviewer describing it as
"Hampered all the way by McGoohan's languorous direction, which lets each appalling moment of this uncomfortable hybrid of grade-school Shakespeare and grade-school religion sink wincingly in."[10]
"A rock and country musical version of Othello, in which the tragic original is trivialized to the point of boredom"[11]
Allmovie's Craig Butler was able to say that "some of the musical performances, especially from Richie Havens and Tony Joe White are quite good, and much of the music is worth hearing ... removed from the movie." Nevertheless, his overall assessment is "a train wreck of a movie that inspires awe and that makes one appreciate a time when awful movies could be so bad in such an interesting way."[5]
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album was issued by Metromedia to tie-in with the film.[12] The New York Times reviewer, in line with others, commented "Forget the movie and get the soundtrack album."[8]
Track listing
"Othello, Pt. 1" - Tony Joe White
"Wash Us Clean" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White
"Catch My Soul, Pt. 1" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White
"Working on a Building" - Tony Joe White
"Othello, Pt. 2" - Tony Joe White
"Catch My Soul, Pt. 2" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White, Lance LeGault,
"Open Our Eyes" - Leon Lumkins
"Backwoods Preacher Man" - Tony Joe White
"Looking Back" - Delaney Bramlett, Tony Joe White
"Eat the Bread-Drink the Wine" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White
"That's What God Said" - Delaney Bramlett
"Chug-A-Lug (The Drinking Song)" - Delaney Bramlett
"I Found Jesus" - Delaney Bramlett
"Run, Shaker Life" - (unknown)
"Catch My Soul, Pt. 3" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White
"Book of Prophecy" - Jack Good, Richie Havens
"Othello, Pt. 3" - Tony Joe White
"Lust of the Blood" - Jack Good, Ray Pohlman
"Tickle His Fancy" - Allene Lubin
"Why" - Jack Good, Emile Dean Zoghby
"Othello, Pt. 4" - Tony Joe White
"Catch My Soul, Pt. 4" - Jack Good, Tony Joe White
