All's Well That Ends Well

"Elijah Moshinsky's TV movie of Shakespeare's 'All's Well That Ends Well' is a funny love story with a twist. Angela Down does a great job playing Helena, who loves Bertram, played by Ian Charleson. Bertram is a nobleman who doesn't love her back. Helena, who learned a lot from her doctor father, cures the King of France and is allowed to marry Bertram. But Bertram runs off to Italy and asks her to do impossible tasks to prove she's faithful. Helena doesn't give up, follows him, and cleverly does what he asked, winning him over.

This movie is one of the best in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. It has beautiful designs, inspired by famous painters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. The costumes and sets are detailed and the lighting adds to the mood of the story.

The actors do a great job, especially Celia Johnson as the kind Countess of Rousillon and Michael Hordern as the funny and loyal Lafeu. Sinden is the thankful King of France and Down's Helena is strong and understanding.

The movie captures the complicated ideas in Shakespeare's play, which is often hard to perform. It's a good mix of funny and serious, romantic and realistic, and explores important themes like gender roles, class, loyalty, honor, trickery, and forgiveness. It also includes great quotes from Shakespeare like "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none" and "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together". It's a great movie that shows that everything can end up well."

This award-winning BBC production brings life, enormous appeal, and intelligence to a play criminally underperformed. It's a pleasure to watch ... and re-watch ... and re-watch.

Let's start with the fact that the production itself has been hailed far and wide for its beauty and visual precision. Director Elijah Moshinsky patterned it after paintings of Vermeer, and even though this may be unknown to the viewer, it has a remarkable subliminal impact.

Now for the cast:

Angela Down is the truly perfect Helena (the heroine of the play). She looks the part -- comely yet intellectual -- and speaks her lines with the perfect emotional fit. Most importantly, her diction and enunciation, and the speed at which she says the bard's words, make everything she says perfectly understandable and perfectly apt within that emotional fit. The viewer never has to wonder "What did she just say?" or "What does that mean?" Nonetheless the lines are fluid, musical, emotional, and very human. To me, this is the sign of a true Shakespearean actor.

Celia Johnson as the Countess Roussillon (Bertram's mother and Helena's guardian) is equally fantastic. She's a pleasure to watch and listen to. Consummate acting.

Ian Charleson as Bertram, Helena's very reluctant love object, is suitably sullen and morose, yet we see the physical beauty and the inherent charm, nobility, and charisma which attracts Helena to him. Charleson, a very internal actor, never overplays the part. To some extent he sometimes almost underplays it, occasionally speaking softly whilst his compatriots declaim more loudly or forcefully. Yet he holds our attention and fits the role very well.

The supporting cast is almost without exception quite admirable -- some remarkably so. Excellent casting, and a lot of excellent acting.

All in all, a very good production which makes the play easy to understand and enjoy.

Highly recommended.

The BBC version of "All's Well That Ends Well" is the only one I've ever seen. Perhaps it is terrible compared to other productions, but I still enjoyed it. Angela Down is lovely as Helen, and Peter Jeffrey nearly steals the picture as Parolles. He would have if his part had been bigger. The director cleverly shot every scene to look like a Van Dyke painting. It's beautiful, even though the colors are badly muted. I don't know if that was his intent or whether the film deteriorated, but it looks decidedly dull. While this version may not be great, anyone studying the play or wishing to familiarize themselves with Shakespeare shouldn't snub this production.

'All's Well that Ends All' is not one of Shakespeare's best-known plays, lesser known more like. It is somewhat unorthodox for Shakespeare and was unorthodox at the time, with its depiction of gender role reversals and how surprisingly realistically cynical it is. It is also one of the most difficult Shakespeare plays to stage and interpret, with it being very psychological and having to bring it out compellingly and realistically.

That is a shame because it is an interesting play, both as an overall play and to analyse. 'All's Well that Ends Well' is not one of Shakespeare's best by any stretch, but all Shakespeare plays are worth reading and seeing at least once and 'All's Well that Ends Well' is no exception. It is funny, thought-provoking and sometimes very moving, with Shakespeare's mastery of language and memorable quotes always shining. Despite saying this, this deservedly acclaimed 1981 Elijah Moskinsky production is one of the best of the BBC Televison Shakespeare series. Although some productions are better than others and few of them are flawless, this series is a must watch for the main reason of seeing performances of all of Shakespeare's plays done with taste and with talented actors on board regardless of budget limitations.

Visually, it is one of the best-looking productions of the series. It does look incredibly attractive, gorgeous actually, in especially the sets and it was clear that a lot of care went into the production values, furthermore they were tasteful in look and in how used. Inspired by and based on the paintings of the likes of Vermeer, it is also one of the most visually interesting BBC Television Shakespeare productions. Nicely shot too, intimate yet not static.

Much credit has to go to Moskinsky for the stage direction. Never too cluttered. Never static with tedious stretches. Always done in good taste, without anything that adds nothing to the drama, works against it or leaves a bad taste in the mouth. He does a fine job making the characters compelling, both in character traits and psychologically. Bertram for example is made to be more complex than he can be, both cold with a big ego and sympathetic. Likewise with the character interaction, a prime example being with Helena and Bertram, which is at times remarkably tender and grows emotionally. What makes 'All's Well that Ends Well' problematic to stage does not phase Moshinsky. The balance of comedy and drama is funny and poignant and beautifully balanced.

It is hard not to expect fine performances from a talented cast, and the same can be said for all the productions of the series. Here we get them and more. The standouts for me are Angela Down as a positively text-book Helena, very deeply felt and strong and it felt very human and genuine, and Celia Johnson's dignified Countess. Also found Pippa Guard very charming, and Ian Charleson avoids making Bertram one-dimensional. Michael Hordern can do no wrong and Peter Jeffrey has fun, and it is great not to have an intentionally clownish character in Lavache too clownish or annoying.

Not much at all to criticise. For my tastes Donald Sindon overdoes it somewhat as the King.

Did find Bertram's conversion rather abrupt and rushed, but in all fairness that has always been one of the biggest criticisms of the play.

Summing up, all's well with this production and it's one of the best of the BBC Television Shakespeare productions, despite it being one of the lower rated ones. 9/10

Chaste, thoughtful Helena loves cold, self-centered Bertram. But when the handsome young man rejects her common birth with aristocratic scorn, unexpected events lead to deception and passion! This dark Shakespeare play is one of the real gems of the BBC collection. Everything is right about the costumes, the actors, the sets, and the lush sensuality of the presentation. Ian Charleson as Bertram is more of a villain than a hero through much of the play, laughing at Helena's tears and running off to play with his soldier friends. Yet when lust strikes him in turn, he is humbled. Pippa Guard is refined and hauntingly beautiful as Diana, the girl from the "wrong side of the tracks" (or the Elizabethan equivalent) whom the haughty Bertram plans to seduce. Diana is not just a cheap tramp. She has a desperate purity. Far from welcoming the noble's advances, she reacts like a frightened deer, or a cornered rabbit, shying from Bertram's cynical touch. Only the shrewd scheming of Helena and her high-born friends (including a king who recognizes her true worth) allows her to capture Bertram's heart at last. Humbled and humiliated by his total downfall, (and Diana's scorn) Bertram falls into forgiving Helena's open arms and proclaims his passionate devotion.

A sexy play, full of romantic longing, arrogant elegance, and sheer unadulterated desire!