Product Details

• Actors: Frances Barber, Christopher Hollis, Julian Gartside, Tim Barker, Richard Briers
• Directors: Paul Kafno
• Writers: William Shakespeare
• Producers: Paul Kafno, Ian Martin
• Format: Full Screen, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: August 30, 2005
• Run Time: 155 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009ZE9EY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,891 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

TWELFTH NIGHT - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some excellent performances marred by a poor heroine, October 14, 2005

By 

John L. Velonis (Dobbs Ferry, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection) (DVD)

This was originally a stage production, and it seems to have been "adapted" for TV by simply filming the actors on the single unchanging stage set and perhaps adding some fake snow. If you take it as such, it's not bad, but if you're expecting something along the lines of Branagh's "Henry V" or "Much Ado about Nothing", you may be disappointed. The Trevor Nunn version is much more cinematic and uses a gorgeous country manor house in Cornwall as the set.

My main problem with this production was the casting of two of the leads. Christopher Ravenscroft seems rather sheepish as Orsino, but much worse was Frances Barber (Viola/Cesario), whose facial expressions, as Dorothy Parker said of Katharine Hepburn, "ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." Moreover, Barber is so obviously female that it was impossible to muster the suspension of disbelief necessary to appreciate the emotional interplay between Viola and Olivia and Orsino.

On the other hand, Caroline Langrishe is "beauty truly blent" as Olivia, and maintains an appropriately regal bearing except when falling in love with Cesario/Sebastian. She is worth the price of the video by herself, but the low comedy actors are excellent as well, especially Abigail McKern as Maria, and Shaun Prendergast, who makes the tiny role of Fabian into a distinct and memorable character.

The text adheres faithfully to the First Folio, with only a few minor cuts. For some reason they left out the priest, which makes for a slight discontinuity in Act V.

The wintry setting is appealing (except for the Christmas tree and carol, which I found rather jarring). There are many amusing or enlightening bits of stage business, such as Fabian nimbly carrying the passed-out Feste offstage along with several bottles.

Patrick Doyle wrote the music (except for "Come Away, Death", whose melody is by Paul McCartney) and plays the piano offstage, accompanied by a horn, cello, and percussion. According to Branagh, this was Doyle's debut, and it shows -- the music for the songs doesn't seem to suit the text at all, and the main theme, though it seems intended to be dramatic, just sounds confused. Doyle did much better later with "Much Ado about Nothing." Anton Lesser as the Fool has a nice voice, but his intonation leaves something to be desired.

The DVD includes an interview with Kenneth Branagh, who gives a bit of information about the original stage production, but chiefly rambles on about the Jacobean subtext of the play. I would have appreciated some commentary by the actors, but I suppose after fifteen years they probably don't remember a great deal about it.

All in all, well worth watching, but if you haven't seen Twelfth Night before, you might want to start with the Trevor Nunn version instead.

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winter In Illyria, October 8, 2005

By 

RHC "TemporaryOne-1" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection) (DVD)

This version of Twelfth Night is the best version I've ever seen, and so far, is only the second filmed version that follows the complete text of the play (the 1980 BBC version is the other).

This is the only film version that strongly emphasizes the issue of love and loneliness amidst a festive time of year, and allows the oft-abused gender-issue theme to dissipate into the background.

Branagh (courtesy of Shakespeare) brilliantly captures the other-world, eerie feeling of desolation and loneliness that comes with being sick in the heart and mind with hopeless love.

Set amid a wintry, dusty-white, snow garden backdrop, illuminated by dazzling, spectral blue lighting schemes, and later, pure, bright white lighting schemes, each scene emanates a beguiling, mysterious, other-worldly feeling that one feels while contemplatively walking alone through a forested/garden area on a midwinter's christmasesque day.

From the onset, we learn we are in the enchanted land of Illyria. The mythical stone statutes in the barren stone garden, the garish-gothic lighting, the melancholy rivulets of melodies, the foolish love-sick people, the foolish drunken people, all convey the feeling of a mystical Illyrian land filled with music, leisure, and hedonism.

But we quickly learn that beneath the enchantment, beneath the Christmas festivities, the foolish people are desparately isolated, alienated, and hopelessly full of burning, unrequited desires.

Present mirth hath present laughter,

What's to come is still unsure...

Anton Lesser steals the production as Feste, the lonely, wandering clown who sees all and knows all.

Caroline Langrishe shines as Olivia, expertly shifting between feigned innocence and deceptive intellect.

James Simmons, James Saxon, and of course the great Richard Briers delightfully lampoon themselves for our amusement, while diligently conveying to us the desolation of a life without romantic love.

Christopher Ravenscroft is hot (I had to say it that way) as Orsino, and buffoons himself just enough to make us simultaneously laugh at him and pity him. In one key scene, Ravenscroft/Orsino allows us to believe that he knows Cesario is a female, and makes the same allowance to a stunned, confused, and even scared Cesario. That scene alone makes this film worth buying. It epitomizes the theme of the duality of human nature (the masks we wear), a theme that Shakespeare employs ad infinitum.

Thanks Ken for finally getting this released on DVD.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting But Not Arresting, January 29, 2006

By 

C. Bond (San Francisco, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twelfth Night (Thames Shakespeare Collection) (DVD)

One hoped with KB directing that this would have more energy. Perhaps the winter setting was part of the damper, although I liked the interesting twist that winter placed on some of the lines. This had the slightly slow, "stagey" feel that one expects from British productions, but not from Branagh. The music was not good. This was interesting to watch for anyone who likes Shakespeare and the comparison of different productions. The best on DVD/Video that I have seen is the one where Ben Kingsley plays Feste.