The Tempest

Hollywood has never done justice to William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and it is this 1960 TV version which I recommend to this day. It is short, to the point and has an amateurishness about it although the cast is superb. The lovely Lee Remick is in the role of Prospero's daughter, Miranda. Richard Burton plays the evil Caliban. If it were up to me, I would have cast Burton as Prospero. Burton was a heavyweight and would have brought a dignity to the character which is otherwise lacking. Roddy McDowell fits the part of Ariel. He prances around like one of Arnold's "girlie-men." The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's most likable plays. There is something comforting about its island setting, the storm and an old man working his magic to ensure his daughter's future. We know beforehand that good will triumph over evil.

Count me in too. I saw this as a kid and still recall with great pleasure that it was my introduction to Shakespeare and has lead to a lifetime love. As was the case for several other films of plays, the clever camera work was a definite plus. Loved making Ariel a sprite by playing with size. Having him ride on Prosperos shoulder certainly worked for me. What a lovely conceit! It made the scenes between them as magical as they were meant to be. Calaban is a bit of a monster but one with Burton's voice. All in all, even thinking about it and the wonderful cast brings a smile to my face. I visited the site and wasn't surprised to see the high rating and generally positive reviews. I feel exactly the same way. Well done all around and a wonderful introduction for kids that lingers on the mind and in the heart as well.

This is a production for Junior High students. The text has been bowlderized (all `improper' material is excised), all the language has been simplified so that no obscure words are used, and non-essential plot devices are eliminated. As an example of the last is any mention of Claribel, the daughter from whose marriage in Tunis they return from.

The production is of a play, shot by one video camera. Costumes are fantastic, but with the anachronism that Prospero wears Ben Franklin specs. The sets are minimalist and mildly interesting. The whole effect has more of a junior educational tone than one which unleashes the power of the play.

Some well-known actors are employed, and that is the only remarkable thing about this affair, and that only as passing curiosity.

The Sebastian is a doofus from several TeeVee comedies. The Ariel is the `Psycho' guy, Roddie McDowell, which gives a strange air to his performance. The Caliban is Richard Burton, heavily disguised. Such an actor! This is from a period during which he describes himself as a hopeless, continual drunk who had sex with countless partners with great emphasis on costars. Makes you constantly aware of the Miranda, here Lee Remick, and whether the sexual approach in the play was mirrored in real life and what happened.

Everyone knows Lee Remick is beautiful. If you watch Days of Wine and Roses, it's clear she can act, too. Lots of people don't know this, but she can also sing and dance, as seen during her Broadway stint of Anyone Can Whistle and her role in the concert version of Follies. But did you know she can speak Shakespeare, too? I didn't, and when I saw her name in the opening credits of The Tempest, I decided not to hold my breath for a believable performance. She was absolutely lovely. Her hair in tendrils, and dressed in a typical white toga, she looked like she just popped out of the forest from A Midsummer Night's Dream. And not only did she look the part, but she delivered her lines beautifully. Very few actors can make me pay attention during Shakespearian plays, and Lee has just joined that list.

I'll admit I consulted Marcia Williams's Tales of Shakespeare before watching this taped live performance. I didn't know the plot, and Marcia helped me out immensely. The Tempest is the story of a father and daughter, isolated on an island. The father has the power to conjure storms, or tempests, and to force sprites to do his bidding. One storm shipwrecks a young man to the island, and sparks fly between the visitor and the daughter. I like this story, and this version was very fun to watch. The costumes were pretty, and all the actors knew their way around the difficult prose. This play walks the fine line between comedy and tragedy, so for those who like their Shakespeare without blood and guts, this one's good for you.

This TV production is highly abridged but gives a good idea of the play. The actors come from every part of the acting spectrum from the Shakespearian actor Maurice Evans and the Welsh actor and Elizabeth Taylor husband (twice) Richard Burton to the comedian Tom Poston.

It strikes me that, though Mr. Evans perhaps had a more musical sense of the lines than Michael Hordern in another production I reviewed, the results of loving your voice too much approaches bombast. I could easily imagine a much more introverted approach in character with a man like Prospero who was a private practitioner of the magical arts not a public one. (Especially in a film or video production where projection is not so important.)

In short, a very old-fashioned oratorical approach which this video preserves well.

In keeping with a 1960 version of the play, Roddy McDowell who plays Ariel is, like David Dixon in the other version, not overdressed but he wears briefs and not a thong like Mr. Dixon. He seems to me much more comfortable in the part and reads his lines more convincingly.

All the more reason I wonder why Tom Poston as Trinculo was encouraged to camp it up (with a lisp in his case.) and this is true of some of the other characters as well.

Lee Remick was fine as Miranda but I thought Pippa Guard was even better in the other version. And William Bassett in briefs and a sort of Roman top for some reason was perhaps overly "manly" and here also I preferred Christopher Guard, who was more poetic, in the other version. Richard Burton as Caliban was fine as well.

The "masque" towards the end with Juno, Ceres etc. was cut to shreds but Lehman Engel's music was more than adequate. The sets were also quite serviceable.

Perhaps I might add a paragraph or two concerning the part of Ariel and the "girlie-man" comment by another reviewer: This is not off the mark since Ariel is supposed to be sexually neutral. In Shakespeare's day, he would have undoubtedly been played by one of the boy actors who also did the women's parts.

More recently, it has been done by adult male actors who are sexually ambivalent to some extent, at least in appearance. (Roddy McDowell was certainly a gay man but I really don't know anything about David Dixon in the other version I reviewed.) The part has also commonly been played by women.