Powerful

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I must disagree with the positive comments this has received. TWELFTH NIGHT is my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies, and when you see that Alec Guiness, Ralph Richardson, and Joan Plowright are in it, you expect the best. Not so. I taped it when it was broadcast, and still have it. Joan is too old for Viola, and is LUDICROUS as Sebastian. Her male impersonation doesn't work at all. It's the worst thing I've ever seen this normally-great actress do. I was surprised that Ralph Richardson wasn't very funny as Sir Toby, as it seemed a good role for him, and I've seen him be very funny in other roles. Not here. Guiness is okay as Malvolio, but I've seen the role done better, once superbly on stage by THE THING'S Robert Cornithwaite. Worst of all is the horrible Tommy Steele, who is UNBEARABLE as Feste, giving good evidence of why his overpraised career was so short.There are much better TWELFTH NIGHTs out there to see. Hunt up the recent televised version with Helen Hunt and Paul Rudd. It was excellent! This one is a disappointment that, given the cast, has no excuse.

This fine staging of Shakespeare's gender-bending comedy is finally available on DVD! I've seen many productions of "Twelfth Night," and Joan Plowright is by far my favorite Viola/Cesario. She's convincing in both roles (and, compared to many other Violas, she might conceivably pass for a teenage boy). She is even more impressive in the final act, which requires her to add still more subtleties to her performance.In the broader comedy roles, it's hard to beat a production that includes Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson and Tommy Steele. Steele's leering persona serves him very well here as Feste.The outstanding script adaptation abridges the play to about 100 minutes. The decision to reverse the order of scenes 1 and 2 was ingenious: it makes for a more dramatic opening and allows a type of exposition that television can do well but which could not have been done easily on Shakespeare's stage.The video on the R1 disc is slightly grainy (presumably a function of its age), and some minor glitches in the quad tape were not corrected. But these are trifles, and the production is very enjoyable.Be aware that this is a stage-like television production: a play produced on videotape. If you want something more cinematic, Trevor Nunn's 1996 film version is very good.

I could not disagree more with the one and only comment so far to appear here. A wonderful version of the play, and Lady Joan Plowright is absolutely outstanding. I love the beginning, when she is shipwrecked--she has this amazing feminine way of expressing both hope and fear--a utopian moment. I am frantically looking through my VHS collection because I know I taped this sucker and can't find it now, and there is neither a VHS nor DVD version now available. And this cad's comments don't help getting this show DVDized--GRRRRRRRRR! Pearls before swine! And why then did this show garner 7+ votes! And it was made during the golden era, of 1969! And Tommy Steele is great, singing, accompanying himself on the lute--how many pop stars from the 1960s could do that? And so is everybody else. I really liked this film (how many more lines do I need?--LOL!) Make this available on DVD, NOW!

Stellar cast is excellent in the bard's whimsical confection...don't expect to see it better done anytime soon. As one would expect, the principle actors are wonderful. However,I must note the equally enchanting presences of two of the supporting players: Gary Raymond as the handsome, somewhat loftily arrogant prince, and Tommy Steele as a his minstrel who performs a lovely medieval ballad accompanying himself on a lute. They both added a great deal of character and romance to this delightful work. This is a prime example of what television is capable of presenting if only there were more producers interested in elevating the tone. I haven't seen anything this enjoyable or star studded since Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of another Shakespeare favorite "The Tempest", which boasted Richard Burton, Lee Remick, and Tom Poston in its cast.