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Product Description

A star-studded cast comes together to perform Shakespeare's famous comedy of misunderstandings. Handsome Duke Orsino (Gary Raymond)'s attempts to woo the beautiful Olivia (Adrienne Corri) go awry when she falls in love with his intermediary. This page is in fact Viola (Joan Plowright), a girl in disguise, who herself loves Orsino. Matters are complicated by the arrival of Viola's twin brother, whom she believes to be dead. Meanwhile, the boisterous Sir Toby Belch (Ralph Richardson), effete Andrew Aguecheek (John Moffatt) and Olivia's maid, Maria (Sheila Reid), conspire with Feste (Tommy Steele), a clown, to humiliate the arrogant Malvolio (Alec Guinness), head of Olivia's household. This was originally screened in 1969 as part of the ITV Saturday Night Theatre series.

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.55 x 7.6 inches; 3.17 ounces
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Mono, PAL, Color, Full Screen
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 43 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ May 4, 2009
Language ‏ : ‎ English (Mono)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Network
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001LQW690
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #439,021 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #352,041 in DVD

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4 out of 5

58 global ratings

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kathis

Brilliant cast

Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2023

a real treat!

Beautifully done, the staging does not subtract from the language

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2012

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I thought that this was a simply staged but beautifully acted production. Unlike some of the earlier reviewers I thought that each character was nicely acted. I particularly liked the clarity of the diction -- every word was reasonably easy to follow. The images are clear; the sound was also clear. The play moves along and I found myself immersed in the production. It was hard to dispell the image of Mr. Guiness as Obi Wan Kenobi. He used a vocal range and tone similar to his famous Star Wars characterization, but I felt that his interpretation of Malvolio one of the best I have seen.

7 people found this helpful

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--

They Tried

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018

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I can appreciate the filmmakers' attempts to experiment with film as a medium, modern tech as plotpoints, and the text itself, but the results were clunky, and the cuts made to the script removed all of the most interesting parts of the play (the gulling of Malvolio was abbreviated and never resolved; Toby's manipulation of Andrew was completely cut; themes of commerce and money were dialed back hard; Antonio and Fabian remain in the play, but so many of their lines are cut and redistributed that it seems like they would have been better off removed completely.) Integrating cell phones and social media into the plot is a neat idea, but it really fell apart by the end of Act II. It was a bit weird that Antonio and Malvolio both fell off the back of the movie while other traditionally ostracized/marginal characters (Feste, Andrew, Fabian, Valentine) all got love interests in the end and had a cool time at a wedding party.
Overall, this was an ambitious project, but it strayed so far from the source material that it no longer resembles Twelfth Night beyond the skeleton of a pageboy comedy of errors. Obviously, to get this puppy down to the length of a film requires some serious tweaking, but a lot of the changes made here dumbed the play down and resulted in a fairly sloppy product.

4 people found this helpful

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B. Marold

My first version of Twelfth NIght

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2013

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I have seen no other versions of Twelfth Night, but I have seen many other Shakespearean comedies. This performance has one especially strong virtue and one or two weaknesses.

The strong point is the cast. As others have mentioned, Joan Plowright is superb. What trumps her performance is seeing two giants of British acting performing two clownish roles. First is Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby Belch, who is a drunken, mischievous sot from the beginning, a character out of Falstaff's playbook. Even more fun is Sir Alec Guinness as Malvolio, a stuffed shirt who is turned to the foolish dandy (just a hint of "Death in Venice" here). Tommy Steele as Feste seems to burst out of the Shakespearean role of the musician and seems a bit discordant beside the old hands. Since this production was done for TV, I suspect adding him to the cast helped catch a younger audience.

The filming was all done on a sound stage decorated to look very much like a medieval town in a far away place (Illyria, on the Adriatic coast, which might have the romantic flavor of either the Carpathians or the Greek Isles in the 19th century. The scenery was obviously stage grade mockups rather than using real castles. I think I would have preferred the bare stage of the Globe.

The play was shortened, and I sensed that we missed an important sub-plot, when nothing comes of the plot of Viola's lost brother. Among Shakespeare's plays, I would rate it better than "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and not as good as "As You Like It", although I have not yet finished watching all the comedies.

9 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Excellent for teaching the play

Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2019

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I am teaching the play here at Evergreen Valley College, and I love this version! Joan Plowright is captivating (her gamine features are a bit like Audrey Hepburn's, and make her masculine conversion appealing), and watching Obi Wan Kenobe play a Puritan is a hoot. Plus the film really feels like a play, with stage scenes and simple camera work that lends the film a very stage-like style. Bravo!

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leegyuri

They've tried... but that is not enough

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2019

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One star seems to be too cruel, but that is a fair rating for this "movie". I regret every minute watching this one.

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2014

not even a third choice....

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Frederick Norwood

Sir Alec Guinness is excellent.

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2014

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Twelfth Night starts out as a farce of mistaken identity, and humor rarely ages well. But about halfway through the play, Shakespeare's characters begin to fight the material, insisting on a reaction more human and less clichéd than you find in most farce, and then the play soars. it also has some of Shakespeare's most beautiful song lyrics. "Journey's end in lovers meeting."

This is my favorite of the several versions of the play currently on video, though all of them are very good.

2 people found this helpful

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Derrick Murray

Great find

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2020

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My Mum is a massive Tommy Steele fan and it is so hard to find things for him, so to find this was great and I know my Mum will love it.

Hal Lindberg

Great fun at Straford Ontario

Reviewed in Canada on August 15, 2015

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A joyous scamper through one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies, performed by a superb cast guided by the expert Des McAnuff. Great stuff.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on October 26, 2016

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great film

Gayle Gibson

When it's good, it's very, very good, and when it's bad . . .

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2015

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This production is sometimes very good, and sometimes mediocre. Sir Alec Guinness as Malvolio, and Sir Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby Belch were perfect - deep and thoughtful and very funny. Tommy Steele was wasted by pathetic arrangements of the famous songs; they should have let the man sing! Joan Plowright as Viola and Sebastian tried hard, and was probably most acceptable, even delightful, on stage, but on the TV screen she is far too old, and possibly far too short to play the twins. This is a production with many wonders, but also many directorial decisions to wonder at.

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

A great version of Shakespeare's comedy masterpiece.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

Marvellous film, I had never actually watched Tommy Steele in this version of The Twelth Night before but knew hewould be very good in it, as I have always respected him as an Actor,besides a Singer, and I was certainly not disappointed.The DVD itself arrived on time, well sealed and very well presented and in great condition.

2 people found this helpful

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Twelfth Night 1969

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