"Twelfth Night" continues to reveal delights with every re-acquaintance. It is warm, sympathetic, funny, wise, theatrically canny and occasionally dangerous.This particular version of the play is chamber Shakespeare, based on a fairly intimate theatrical production. It is not particularly outstanding in any way, but it works. The old Shakespeare magic culminating in the final scene builds and releases as it should, and that is the ultimate test.The cast is good, just good, across the board. There is one standout performance, and that is Richard Briers as Malvolio, and he is considerably better than good.I found Anton Lesser's Feste a little strained and complicated, plumbing the part for depths not to be found. This is not Hamlet, nor was meant to be.Some production decisions can be questioned, with anachronistic Christmas elements injected, along with a wholly awkward Christmas carol. The whole winter motif and monochromatic production can be challenged as well, but it all works nonetheless. Unlike some of Mr. Branagh's inspirations, no Bards were harmed in the making of this DVD, and that's a relief.Many will tell you that Trevor Nunn's feature film of "Twelfth Night" with a potluck cast of stars is the best choice, but I find it a gross miscalculation in tone, scale and pace, and a complete misfire.There is an 1969 ITV production floating around with truly towering performances by Sir Alec Guinness and Sir Ralph Richardson, but they unbalance the rest of the cast and threaten to capsize the play.The best overall version with an ensemble cast that is beautifully balanced in every way is the 1980 BBC version from their complete traversal of the canon, with Felicity Kendal, Sinead Cusack and Alec McCowen. That is a delight from beginning to end.

Containing few performances that don't hit the same painfully broad and obvious notes over and over again, this film of Branagh's staged performance clearly has learned its lines and found its beats. Especially notable is Toby's slapstick business with the sword and the development of Feste's dark underbelly, completed with the subtlety and variety found in a box of crayolas. No mo------ meant left un-mined, no witty banter unPUNCTuated. Wow, they know that play in and out, having clearly just come off of a long and successful but apparently soul-draining run. Good snow.For the sake of filling enough lines to make an acceptable entry, I shall comment on the music: fittingly saccharine and forgettable. Hey nonny.

Personally, I like this Branagh-directed version very much (well, this movie was directed for TV by Paul Kafno, but it's based on a Branagh staging, and this is what the actors are performing). Granted, it cannot compete with the 1996 Trevor Nunn film, which is excellently colorful and comedic, and had a much bigger production budget.The Branagh production is set in a TV studio in which has been built the ruins of a formerly rich but now dilapidated estate (Olivia's), and almost all the action takes place there, except for the scenes at Orsino's estate, which are covered in an atmospheric blue sheen that I found very effective at conveying the melancholy of the play (and Orsino's character in particular).It's true that this production isn't very funny (although I was quite amused by the bit with the Christmas tree). I think this is deliberate. Branagh does not treat this as a comedy, but prefers to delve into the melancholy depth of the text. Thus, he does not provide a folk comedy, but a study in literary profundity. This is to the benefit of those, like myself, who like a philosophically heavy Shakespeare. Note that this version is 2 hours and 35 minutes long, and actually includes all the original text (although I thought Orsino's scenes were rather few and far between), which is always a big plus in my book.I think all the actors of this production are excellent (and with great enunciation!), but it's true they lack the charisma of better-known faces like those of the Trevor Nunn movie. However, the one element that I find superior in the Branagh version compared to the Nunn version is Malvolio. Now, personally, I think, sacrilegiously, that Malvolio is generally the most boring thing about Twelfth Night. He's sort of like an artificially included comedy element which isn't that funny. I like the rest of the action much better. In Trevor Nunn's excellent movie, Malvolio is the one thing that, to my mind, does not work. Hawthorne acts the part too dramatically, and with too much self-pity. True, Malvolio does exhibit extreme self-pity in the original text, but I think this is supposed to be played for laughs and not to make audiences feel sorry for him (which, based on Hawthorne's histrionics, we never really did anyway). So I thought Richard Brier's Malvolio in the Branagh version was significantly better; still a sad and pathetic character, but in a way that gels with the rest of the mood of the play. He was more downbeat, and never distracted us from the rest of the action. So, overall, I enjoyed this production a lot, and will recommend it to those who prefer both a pensive and a complete text as basis for performance.8 out of 10.

How nice are you people? This was an awful version of the play. There was absolutely no connection between any of the in love pairs, i.e. Olivia and Viola. Olivia had no underlining character whatsoever, she just acted snooty the whole time. It would have been OK if she would have shown any other emotions, but no. The Sebastian-Antonio pair was weak, especially with Antonio. Sevastian and Viola didn't even look alike. Gosh, the Christmas tree had electric lights on it! The music, the characters, and the whole feelings of the play were drab and dull, and even though Maria was exceptionally good, her performance didn't help enough to save this drowning play. Two thumbs down, sorry!