Twelfth Night (1969 ITV TV Movie)

Twins, Viola and Sebastian (both played by Joan Plowright), are involved in a shipwreck. Both think the other is dead. Viola is saved by an old sea captain and brought to Illyria. The captain agrees to help her disguise herself as a eunuch ( I guess there was a lot of this going around then?) so she can work in the household of the Duke of Illyria, Orsino (Gary Raymond). Orsino is in love with Countess Olivia but she has no interest in him at all, despite his constant wooing. He sends Viola, who, in her eunuch guise, is going by the name Cesario, to plead his case. Olivia is immediately attracted to Cesario and tries to win "his" love.

Meanwhile, Cesario is in love with "his" master, Orsino. Orsino is not the only one smitten with Olivia. She is also being courted by a knight, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (John Moffatt). Olivia has no interest in him either but Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Ralph Richardson), is delighted to have Sir Andrew around, so that the knight can pick up Sir Toby's bar tab. Olivia also has a trusted advisor, Malvolio (Alec Guiness), who is a stuffy prig, but would also like to be her true love.

Eventually Sebastian shows up, causing rampant confusion because he and Viola look almost exactly alike while she is in her eunuch drag. Unlike Viola, Sebastian is very happy with the attentions of Olivia and agrees to marry her within minutes of meeting her. Eventually there is a face to face between Viola and Sebastian where they are both thrilled to discover that each is alive and Orsino immediately decides he loves Viola now that he knows she is a woman. Malvolio and Andrew are made fools of, Toby has married Olivia's lady in waiting, Marie, and all the lovers are happy.

Shakespeare certainly enjoyed a bit of gender bending in his comedies. At the time these plays were initially performed all the female roles were played by young men. The fact that the movie has a female actor playing the dual role is the safest route obviously since 1960s audiences would be less upset seeing Olivia fall for another young lady than seeing Orsino fall for a young man. Nevertheless there is still something fascinating about watching the interplay between Orsino and Cesario and sensing that although Orsino believes Cesario to be a young man and continues to press his suit with Olivia, it is to Cesario that he confides everything and Cesario upon whom he bestows repeated displays of physical affection. And Joan Plowright, done up to play Sebastian, still looks so feminine that one wonders about Olivia's predilections.

The performances are universally excellent. Particularly adept is Tommy Steele playing Feste the Fool. With Shakespeare's typical irony he is the smartest man in the story. And he ends up alone, unlike the happy lovers who are not so insightful as to see how ridiculous life and love can be.

Unsurprisingly the wordplay is phenomenal. The dialogue is replete with expressions that continue to be used regularly today and many that don't of course. So, as with most Shakespeare, it can be a bit of a struggle to figure out what is being said at times. Nevertheless, it's a very entertaining story, beautifully acted by everyone involved.

Gary's training in Shakespeare is obvious. He delivers the dialogue as easily as the rest of us speak everyday modern English. He seems to enjoy playing the part and he very convincingly portrays the avid suitor who comes to realize his true heart's desire. He makes a somewhat stolid character endearing, justifying Viola's adoration. Apparently in Shakespearean repertory theater Gary would alternate this part with Sir Andrew. It must have been even more fun for him to play the dandy coward that this character depicts.

Remember I said I was going to talk about how Gary's ass looks in tights? When he first arrives on screen, it's a bit of a shock because he's wearing this ghastly Prince Valiant wig that looks so synthetic I expected it to melt under the camera lights. Then I realized that the period costumes for men involved a waist-length brocade jacket over tights. There seemed to be some sort of codpiece thing going on in the front (of course I checked) so not very revealing. But then he turned sideways and there were these two perfect little round cheeks. Cue tongue lolling out of mouth onto floor.

Later on, there is a scene where Orsino wakes up and doffs his nightshirt so that we have a brief glance (handily lengthened by the pause button) of his entire bare torso down to below the waist. Then there is a glimpse of bare thigh while he is sitting on the bed having his shoes put on by Cesario. At the end we get to see Gary's long lean legs in tights. It was quite the droolfest. So much for improving myself culturally with Shakespeare…

Photos from "Twelfth Night"

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