Twelfth Night at the Movies: 1969
Hello, and welcome to Twelfth Night at the Movies! Which is really more like Twelfth Night on TV, but whatever! I'm your host, bewareofitalics, and have I ever watched a lot of Twelfth Night. A few years ago, I screencapped three different versions and posted them to my journal, and now, I shall bring those screencaps to you! Today's Twelfth Night comes from 1969 and stars Sir Alec Guinness, Tommy Steele, Sir Ralph Richardson, and Joan Plowright. The image quality isn't great, because while this version has since been released on DVD, the screencaps are taken from a video my parents taped off TV before I even knew who Shakespeare was. I've kept my commentary from when I first posted this, hopefully taking out anything that wouldn't make sense to someone who wasn't on my flist back then. Behind the cut, you will find slash, snark, and a lot of bad hair. And I mean, a lot of bad hair. This project started purely so I could show off how terrible the hair in this version was, and then I got carried away. So without further ado...
Orsino and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad hair.
Feste is disgusted by Orsino's hair. Or rather, by the request to "play on." (There will be lots of Feste here, because I love him. And he loves Olivia! This is the version that first made me think Feste/Olivia.)
Curio and Valentine have really bad hair, too.
Viola and the Sea Captain. In this version, Viola sees Orsino do the "If music be the food of love" scene, which takes place as Orsino and gang serenade Olivia outside her window.
"...present you as a what to him!?"
Now Viola has bad hair too!
Orsino and random guy with awful hair. There are a lot of those in here.
Feste (Tommy Steele) mocks Malvolio (Alec Guinness). These two are the highlights of the show.
Malvolio mocks Feste.
Feste mocks Sir Toby. Olivia finds this amusing.
Sir Toby, otherwise known as Don Quixote de La Mancha.
Veil time!
A whole bunch of people with veils! And "Cesario."
Side view of Viola's bad hair.
Another veil shot, just cause.
Shockingly, Olivia's hair is rather pretty, with pearls and curls.
Viola is terribly amused at the thought that Olivia might be in love with her. And Curio still has awful hair.
The Bad Hair Brigade descends on Viola.
This is Sir Andrew. His bad hair is canon.
See Sir Andrew. See Feste. See Sir Andrew shamelessly flirt with Feste.
And here's Malvolio in his nightgown, plus silly hat and steward's chain. Maria is behind him. It was hard to get good shots of Maria, cause she was pretty much constantly in motion. She was little and blonde and bouncy.
Ah, there's Maria. Plotting.
Sir Toby is a vampire and Maria has bouncy ringlets.
Sir Andrew was adored once, too.
Viola averts her eyes as Orsino is dressed by his attendants. And I do believe that Curio wins the "Worst Hair in Illyria" competition.
And then Viola has to tie Orsino's dressing gown. There should be lots of sexual tension in this scene. There isn't.
Even when Viola sits between Orsino's legs and he plays with her (bad) hair.
Feste notices the fondness of Orsino for "Cesario."
Orsino shows off.
This is Sebastian. Played by the actress playing Viola, who actually did a pretty good job of making Viola, Cesario, and Sebastian all different. Too bad they all used the fakey "Shakespeare voice." The first time I saw Sebastian, I completely cracked up.
Antonio and Sebastian! Because I had to get a picture of them together.
Fabian also has (guess what) bad hair. And he's rather hyperactive.
Maria with the infamous letter. Blurry because Maria was bouncing around, as usual.
Sir Andrew, Fabian, and Don Quixote are very good at hiding.
Yellow stockings!
Olivia is horrified and confused. Maria is trying not to snort.
Maria, listening to Sir Andrew's letter, realizes that she's surrounded by idiots.
Fabian can scarce hold "Cesario" yonder.
Sir Andrew and Viola take one look at each other and promptly faint.
Antonio is arrested by members of the Bad Hair Brigade.
Yay cape!
Getting into disguise as Sir Topas.
Malvolio "in a dark room and bound."
Feste, out of Topas garb, mocks Malvolio.
I have no idea what's up with the masks. But it's Feste, so yay!
Antonio. Aaaaw.
Orsino: Man in Tights.
Olivia merrily mocks Orsino as Curio suffers the double indignity of awful hair and worse hat.
Feste reacts to Olivia calling "Cesario" her husband. I told you he was in love with her.
Sir Andrew has a page who wears the exact same clothes as he does. And a bloody coxcomb. But the page amuses me more.
Sebastian sees Viola.
Viola sees Sebastian.
Feste sees double.
Because of the whole one-actor-playing-both-twins thing, Sebastian can't stand with Olivia while she talks to Orsino and Viola. But that's okay, because Antonio's there!
Bad acting cannot stop the slash.
Feste reads madly.
Which makes Olivia mad.
Feste is saddened by Olivia's rejection of his humor.
While going off to get revenge, Malvolio pauses to pull up his stockings.
Feste stops Olivia as she rushes to Sebastian. She rejects him again.
Feste sadly watches Olivia leave with Sebastian.
And then gets the door slammed in his face.
And, heartbroken, he sits down to sing "The Wind and the Rain." *sniffles*
And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Hope everyone had fun!
Orsino and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad hair.
Feste is disgusted by Orsino's hair. Or rather, by the request to "play on." (There will be lots of Feste here, because I love him. And he loves Olivia! This is the version that first made me think Feste/Olivia.)
Curio and Valentine have really bad hair, too.
Viola and the Sea Captain. In this version, Viola sees Orsino do the "If music be the food of love" scene, which takes place as Orsino and gang serenade Olivia outside her window.
"...present you as a what to him!?"
Now Viola has bad hair too!
Orsino and random guy with awful hair. There are a lot of those in here.
Feste (Tommy Steele) mocks Malvolio (Alec Guinness). These two are the highlights of the show.
Malvolio mocks Feste.
Feste mocks Sir Toby. Olivia finds this amusing.
Sir Toby, otherwise known as Don Quixote de La Mancha.
Veil time!
A whole bunch of people with veils! And "Cesario."
Side view of Viola's bad hair.
Another veil shot, just cause.
Shockingly, Olivia's hair is rather pretty, with pearls and curls.
Viola is terribly amused at the thought that Olivia might be in love with her. And Curio still has awful hair.
The Bad Hair Brigade descends on Viola.
This is Sir Andrew. His bad hair is canon.
See Sir Andrew. See Feste. See Sir Andrew shamelessly flirt with Feste.
And here's Malvolio in his nightgown, plus silly hat and steward's chain. Maria is behind him. It was hard to get good shots of Maria, cause she was pretty much constantly in motion. She was little and blonde and bouncy.
Ah, there's Maria. Plotting.
Sir Toby is a vampire and Maria has bouncy ringlets.
Sir Andrew was adored once, too.
Viola averts her eyes as Orsino is dressed by his attendants. And I do believe that Curio wins the "Worst Hair in Illyria" competition.
And then Viola has to tie Orsino's dressing gown. There should be lots of sexual tension in this scene. There isn't.
Even when Viola sits between Orsino's legs and he plays with her (bad) hair.
Feste notices the fondness of Orsino for "Cesario."
Orsino shows off.
This is Sebastian. Played by the actress playing Viola, who actually did a pretty good job of making Viola, Cesario, and Sebastian all different. Too bad they all used the fakey "Shakespeare voice." The first time I saw Sebastian, I completely cracked up.
Antonio and Sebastian! Because I had to get a picture of them together.
Fabian also has (guess what) bad hair. And he's rather hyperactive.
Maria with the infamous letter. Blurry because Maria was bouncing around, as usual.
Sir Andrew, Fabian, and Don Quixote are very good at hiding.
Yellow stockings!
Olivia is horrified and confused. Maria is trying not to snort.
Maria, listening to Sir Andrew's letter, realizes that she's surrounded by idiots.
Fabian can scarce hold "Cesario" yonder.
Sir Andrew and Viola take one look at each other and promptly faint.
Antonio is arrested by members of the Bad Hair Brigade.
Yay cape!
Getting into disguise as Sir Topas.
Malvolio "in a dark room and bound."
Feste, out of Topas garb, mocks Malvolio.
I have no idea what's up with the masks. But it's Feste, so yay!
Antonio. Aaaaw.
Orsino: Man in Tights.
Olivia merrily mocks Orsino as Curio suffers the double indignity of awful hair and worse hat.
Feste reacts to Olivia calling "Cesario" her husband. I told you he was in love with her.
Sir Andrew has a page who wears the exact same clothes as he does. And a bloody coxcomb. But the page amuses me more.
Sebastian sees Viola.
Viola sees Sebastian.
Feste sees double.
Because of the whole one-actor-playing-both-twins thing, Sebastian can't stand with Olivia while she talks to Orsino and Viola. But that's okay, because Antonio's there!
Bad acting cannot stop the slash.
Feste reads madly.
Which makes Olivia mad.
Feste is saddened by Olivia's rejection of his humor.
While going off to get revenge, Malvolio pauses to pull up his stockings.
Feste stops Olivia as she rushes to Sebastian. She rejects him again.
Feste sadly watches Olivia leave with Sebastian.
And then gets the door slammed in his face.
And, heartbroken, he sits down to sing "The Wind and the Rain." *sniffles*
And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Hope everyone had fun!