Catch My Soul is a 1974 rock opera adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. Since you have most likely neither seen it nor heard of it, you might presume that it was made by losers and featured a cast of nobodies. You’d be wrong twice. It was produced by successful music television impresario Jack Good and directed by Patrick McGoohan, star of the British action series The Prisoner. Othello was played by Richie Havens, Cassio by Tony Joe White, and Iago by Lance LeGault, all of whom were popular and on the ascent. Most of the music is performed by Delaney and Bonnie, who were heavily involved in shaping the sound of the ’70s.

Those curious strengths notwithstanding, the film was released scattershot and poorly promoted. Although it was completed before Jesus Christ Superstar, production delays caused it to be released after that blockbuster, and the religious elements in Catch My Soul led many to presume that the latter was derivative of the former. After only a handful of screenings, the film disappeared.

Tom Mayer works at Lawson McGhee Library downtown. He recently had the pleasure of donating a DVD/Blu-ray combo edition of Catch My Soul to the library’s collection.

“It’s just amazing,” Mayer says of the digital release of the film. “I never thought it would get to this point,”

If you’re curious about the film’s disappearance and rediscovery, you can read the saga—written by Mayer—in the package’s extensive liner notes. Mayer is an aficionado of all things related to The Prisoner; three years ago, he began collecting and sharing information about Catch My Soul online. His impassioned, articulate, and detailed blog essays attracted attention and apparently motivated archivists and a distributor to make the film available to the public in this high-quality modern edition.

“I would say it helped, because I wrote the initial articles three years ago, and that generated some interest,” Mayer says. “Then the archive that showed it to me in North Carolina showed it at their film festival two years ago. That gentleman, David Spencer, wanted to restore the film. [Etiquette Pictures] got the idea to remaster it and put it out. How much that was due to the two of us, I can’t say. But they looked around online and found my articles and asked me to write the essay.”

The film is a trippy time capsule, worth seeing for a few reasons. The music is quite good. The performances are good—certainly better than you might expect from the fish-out-of-water singers. And the New Mexico desert locations are terrific. Going into an adaptation of Othello, you don’t have to wonder much about the ending. In contrast, Mayer’s fascinating tale of sussing out the last remaining prints of the film, visiting the filming locations, and interviewing the surviving principals from the project is extremely suspenseful. His original articles, condensed for the disc package notes, remain accessible online at theunmutual.co.uk.

Catch My Soul screens at the Birdhouse (800 N. Fourth Ave.) on Monday, March 7, at 8 p.m. Admission is free. 

Chris Barrett

Chris Barrett's Shelf Life alerts readers to new arrivals at the Lawson McGhee Library's stellar Sights and Sounds collection, along with recommendations and reminders of staples worthy of revisiting. He is a former Metro Pulse staff writer who’s now a senior assistant at the Knox County Public Library.