Two-Headed Eagle

{{Infobox television

| image = Two_headed_Eagle.png

| image_upright =

| image_alt =

| caption = Advertisement The Age 14 Dec 1960

| genre = romantic drama

| creator =

| based_on = play by Jean Cocteau
translated by Carl Wildman

| writer = Alan Seymour

| screenplay =

| story =

| director = William Sterling

| starring =

| narrated =

| music =

| country = Australia

| language = English

| num_episodes =

| producer =

| editor =

| cinematography =

| runtime = 75 mins

| company = ABC

| budget =

| network = ABC

| released = {{Start date|1960|12|14|df=y}} (Melbourne)

| released2 = {{Start date|1961|03|08|df=y}} (Sydney){{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|title=TV Guide|date=6 March 1961|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123838817/?terms=%22Two-Headed%2BEagle%22}}

| released3 = {{Start date|1962|04|03|df=y}} (Brisbane){{cite magazine|magazine=TV Times|title=Orders to Kill|date=29 March 1962|page=10}}

}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1300&dat=19601208&id=BqETAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sqkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6857,1419314&hl=en|newspaper=The Age|title=Untitled|date=8 December 1960|page=14}} The adaptation was by Alan Seymour who wrote a number of TV plays around this time.{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/60-australian-tv-plays-1950s-60s/|magazine=Filmink|title=60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s|date=February 18, 2019}} The play had been produced with Tallulah Bankhead.

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{{cite news|date=8 December 1960|page=37|newspaper=The Age|title=TV Guide}}
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. 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.{{cite news|date=5 March 1961|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123838784/?terms=%22Two-Headed%2BEagle%22|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|page=76|first=David|last=Willis|title=TV Merry Go Round}}

Reception

The Age said it was a "personal triumph" for Lee.{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MDQ-9Oe3GGUC&dat=19601222&printsec=frontpage&hl=en|date=22 December 1960|page=11|title=Personal Triumph for Magot Lee}}

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."{{cite news|title=The Two Headed Eagle|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=9 March 1961|page=11|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123838898/?terms=%22Two-Headed%2BEagle%22}}