7 OCTOBER 1960, Page 13

. Mr. Ze ffi relli designed the sets, too—some of which, like

Juliet's airy bedroom and the pil- lared lamp-lit tomb, arc delicate works of art, while others, like the street background or the balcony, seem more like badly plastered works of engineering—to fit his conception of realistic, period, small-town Verona. The noise of drunken singing, church organs, bird song and booming bells reinforces the impression. But too often they detract both from the words of the charac- ters and occasionally even from the sight of them. The pastel-shaded clothes in fading light against patchy settings too often appear like exercises in camouflage. Mr. Zeffirelli had the