Othello Three Apples", one of the stories narrated in the "One Thousand and One Nights" ("Arabian Nights"). Desdemona is the only named character in Cinthio's tale, with his few other characters identified only as the "Moor", the "Squadron Leader", the "Ensign", and the "Ensign's Wife" (corresponding to the play's Othello, Cassio, Iago and Emilia). Cinthio drew a moral (which he placed in the mouth of Desdemona) that it is unwise for European women to marry the temperamental men of other nations. Cinthio's tale has been described as a "partly racist warning" about the dangers of miscegenation. While Shakespeare closely followed Cinthio's
Othello (1980 film) Desdemona. The film did not screen until 1980, when it had its official debut at Howard University. In White's biography in the promotion materials for the debut, it reads: "[Liz] works out of her apartment in the Dunbar complex in Harlem and at the editing space she rents in the Screen Building on Broadway. She is cutting and editing a print of her feature length film, "Othello", sleeping on the studio floor some nights." The film's release was in part due to White's reluctance to label the film an "art" film. She attempted to market the film to various studios,