Just a year after the triumph of "Romeo and Juliet", Zeffirelli was invited by the Royal Shakespeare Company to direct John Gielgud in "Othello" in Stratford-upon-Avon. This time, the production failed to convince. Perhaps it lacked the ingredients that Zeffirelli has always shown a preference for: the eagerness and vitality of youth. Perhaps Othello did not prove to be a character within the reach of the otherwise great John Gielgud. Whatever the case, the audience's response was lukewarm.
However, Shakespeare's tragedy remained close to Zeffirelli’s heart. In the years that followed, he tried in vain to stage it in Italy with Enrico Maria Salerno as the lead. Better results were achieved with productions of Verdi’s opera, staged by Zeffirelli at the Metropolitan in New York, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and finally brought to the screen in a dazzling opera film.