Two-Headed Eagle

Two Headed Eagle is a 1960 Australian television play directed by William Sterling and starring Margo Lee. It was based on a play by Jean Cocteau which had been first presented on the London stage in 1946.[3] The adaptation was by Alan Seymour who wrote a number of TV plays around this time.[4] The play had been produced with Tallulah Bankhead.[2]

Two-Headed Eagle
Advertisement The Age 14 Dec 1960
Genreromantic drama
Based onplay by Jean Cocteau
translated by Carl Wildman
Written byAlan Seymour
Directed byWilliam Sterling
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running time75 mins
Production companyABC
Release
Original networkABC
Original release14 December 1960 (Melbourne)
8 March 1961 (Sydney)[1]
3 April 1962 (Brisbane)[2]

Premise

In a fictitious European country, a Queen has been mourning her dead husband for the ten years since he was assassinated. A peasant-poet assassin, Stanislas, sets out to kill her. He is unable to do so after she greets him calmly and he winds up falling for the Queen, which costs him his life.

Cast
  • Edward Brayshaw as the assassin Stanislas[5]
  • Margo Lee as the Queen
  • Michael Duffield as Felix von Willenstein
  • Christopher Hill as Christopher Von Foehn, the police chief
  • Madeline Howell as Edith Von Berg, the Queen's reader
  • Joe Jenkins as Tony

Production

Costumes were by John Peters.[6] The production was shot in Melbourne in 1960 though not broadcast in Sydney until the following year. It featured a 15 minute speech by Margo Lee.[7]

Reception

The Age said it was a "personal triumph" for Lee.[8]

The TV critic for The Sydney Morning Herald praised Margo Lee's performance but thought the play "could have been more effective if there had been a little more care in the production. The camera work relied too much on ordinary close and long shots; there was nothing much, in this respect, to enliven proceedings during the queen's long vocal cadenza; and the quality of the sound-reproduction was variable."[6]

See also
  • List of television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1960s)

References
  1. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 6 March 1961.
  2. "Orders to Kill". TV Times. 29 March 1962. p. 10.
  3. "Untitled". The Age. 8 December 1960. p. 14.
  4. Vagg, Stephen (18 February 2019). "60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s". Filmink.
  5. "TV Guide". The Age. 8 December 1960. p. 37.
  6. "The Two Headed Eagle". Sydney Morning Herald. 9 March 1961. p. 11.
  7. Willis, David (5 March 1961). "TV Merry Go Round". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 76.
  8. "Personal Triumph for Magot Lee". The Age. 22 December 1960. p. 11.


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