The film that Ebert calls "an Orson Welles masterpiece that remains all but unseen." It basically combines elements of five Shakespeare plays and centers on the character of Falstaff (whom Welles plays). Vincent Canby said it "may be the greatest Shakespearean film ever made, bar none."

The famous 10-minute battle scene is an absolutely masterpiece of a scene. He never had more than 100 extras at any one time, yet it looked like there were entire armies of knights riding into battle. Mel Gibson reportedly studied this scene inside and out when preparing to film the battle scenes in Braveheart. I was extremely surprised at how visceral and modern-looking it was, especially when considering they were working within extreme budgetary constraints.

I watched a Brazilian import DVD, which is reportedly the best print on disk - although the aspect ratio was slightly off which really pissed me off. At least the transfer itself was fairly crisp and the dubbed vocals were properly synched. (Apparently certain prints had badly out-of-synch audio.)

Check it out if you can get your hands on it.