Criterion

Chimes At Midnight’s editing is disconcertingly fast, much more so than most Shakespeare films; compare it to Franco Zeffirelli’s much more conventional (and successful, financially) Romeo and Juliet and Taming of the Shrew, released just a few years later. Though I didn’t bother to measure out an average shot length, it seems that Chimes could probably fit comfortably among the infamously nervously-cut films of the 21st century, especially in its raucous first half. This was probably a partial result of the long, multi-year production schedule and consequently erratic availability of the actors; Welles later said that every shot in which an actor’s face isn’t clearly visible can be assumed to be using a stand-in: http://www.cutprintfilm.com/blu/new-blu-ray-chimes-midnight-immortal-story/