Shakespeare in Performance: Film

Twelfth Night: or, What You Will (1957, David Greene)

Description

A Hallmark Hall of Fame television production directed by David Greene and starring Maurice Evans as Malvolio. (For other Hallmark Shakespeare productions, see 102, 126, 305, 309, 484, 593, 594, and 613.) The greeting card commercials framing the production appropriately exploited the play's title, Twelfth Night. ("Twelfth Night" is the twelfth day of Christmas, January 5, and the eve of the the Feast of the Epiphany). In Elizabethan times Epiphany was a day especially set aside for gift giving, which is a minor element in the play (e.g, Olivia's ring to Viola). The Museum of Broadcasting copy is marked "out of sync" throughout, though the visual effects, as described below, are often quite spectacular. There are numerous textual deletions, transpositions and alterations. Count Orsino has vanished from the opening along with Viola and the Sea Captain's exchange about her lost brother

Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14

Cast Overview

Production Team and Crew Overview

Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell