Chimes at Midnight

Chimes at Midnight centres on Sir John Falstaff, an ageing, pleasure-loving knight who has become a surrogate father to Prince Hal, heir to the English throne. While King Henry IV faces a rebellion led by the Hotspur, Hal spends his time drinking and causing trouble among commoners rather than preparing for rule. When war arrives, Hal must fight for his father's cause, and his growing royal duty forces him to weigh his loyalty to the king against his bond with Falstaff.

Orson Welles directed the film and wrote its screenplay, which draws together the Falstaff material from several of Shakespeare's history plays. It was his tenth feature, arriving between The Trial (1962) and The Immortal Story (1968). Welles himself plays Falstaff, with Keith Baxter as Hal, John Gielgud as Henry IV, Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet, Margaret Rutherford as Mistress Quickly and Marina Vlady as Kate Percy. The production was mounted across Spain, France and Switzerland.

On IMDb the film holds 7.6 from about 11,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 from roughly 250, while a critics' rating of 9 out of 10 from 50 reviews places critical regard noticeably higher than general audience response.