Twelfth Night

1910 RomanceComedy 12 minutes Directed by Eugene Mullin

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About Twelfth Night

Viola and her twin Sebastian are shipwrecked. She is saved; he is thought drowned. She finds his trunk, puts on his clothes, and becomes a page to Duke Orsino. Orsino sends her to Countess Olivia with a love message. Olivia falls in love with the page, gives Viola a jewel, and later sends a ring by her steward Malvolio. Sebastian, looking for his sister, meets her at Olivia's house. Olivia turns to him. Orsino sees Olivia with Sebastian, then meets Viola as herself and asks her to marry him.

Cast & crew

More about Twelfth Night

Eugene Mullin adapted Shakespeare and is credited as director with Charles Kent. Some records also name William V. Ranous. J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith produced. Vitagraph first scheduled the reel for January 8, 1910, then January 25, and released it on February 5 after holding it for the third reel of Moses. The negative was one reel, about 970 feet. Original prints were hand-tinted.

Themes

  • A twin's clothes as a disguise
  • Olivia falls in love with the page
  • The brother who walks in and takes her place
  • Viola
  • Sebastian
  • Orsino
  • Olivia
  • Malvolio
  • shipwreck
  • Vitagraph
  • Shakespeare

Making

Mullin keeps the shipwreck, the page disguise, Olivia's ring, and the twin reunion, and drops the subplot jokes that would not fit a single reel. Malvolio appears as the steward who carries the ring, not as the yellow-stocking plot.

Preservation

The British Film Institute National Archive holds an incomplete 35mm hand-tinted nitrate print. The Library of Congress has a copy as well.

Notes

  • Florence Turner plays Viola. Edith Storey, not Turner, plays Sebastian. Charles Kent plays Malvolio, not Orsino. Tefft Johnson is Orsino. Julia Swayne Gordon is Olivia.
  • Marin Sais plays Maria, William Humphrey Sir Toby Belch, and James Young Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
  • Moving Picture World on January 8, 1910, said the Shakespeare reel announced for January 25 would wait until February.
  • The British Film Institute holds an incomplete hand-tinted nitrate print. The Library of Congress also has a copy.

Scenes

  • Viola opens Sebastian's trunk on the beach and puts on his clothes.
  • Olivia gives the page a jewel, then sends Malvolio after her with a ring.
  • Sebastian and Viola meet again at Olivia's house.
  • Viola faces Orsino without the disguise, and he proposes.

Influenced by

  • William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Also available

  • British Film Institute National Archive (incomplete hand-tinted nitrate)
  • Library of Congress