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Midsummer Night's Dream, A, film versions. It has been filmed more than 30 times, with a wide range of approaches, often derived from a stage production. The best‐known screen adaptation was only the second Shakespeare play to be filmed with sound; other interpretations include speechless, erotic, and postmodern.

In 1934 the Austrian stage producer Max Reinhardt (1873–1943) put on in the Hollywood Bowl a popular and acclaimed Midsummer Night's Dream, which included dancing fairies choreographed to the music Mendelssohn had written for the play in the previous century. When Warner Bros. invited Reinhardt to co‐direct a film of it (USA, 1935), they did not want a straightforward record of the stage production. Nor did Reinhardt. He aimed instead to continue to show respect for Shakespeare's text but use some of Warners' established movie stars—such as James Cagney (Bottom), Dick Powell (Lysander), Joe E. Brown (Flute), and 14‐year‐old Mickey Rooney (Puck)—rather than his stage actors. Equally, Reinhardt wanted to exploit cinema's unlimited space, and the camera's technical possibilities, to create a world of magic and enchantment. A large troupe of gossamer fairies—nearly 1, 000 extras were used, according to the publicity—is shown skipping up to the stars on a spiral pathway of clouds, then floating down on a moonbeam; Bottom's head is transformed into that of a donkey before the viewer's eyes, by means of overlapping dissolves; and some of the forest scenes are shot through a lens partially coated in oil, to enhance perception of the story as a hazy dream. This cinematography won an Academy Award.

About 20 years later the celebrated Czech animator Jiri Trnka started work on a non‐verbal CinemaScope puppet version (Czechoslovakia, 1958). Shakespeare's dialogue was cut out completely, except for the occasional few words of plot explanation. In place of dialogue Trnka relied on visual richness and inventiveness to convey character. Puck, for example, shows his impish humour in the way he transforms himself into little animals from time to time; and Oberon's moods are implied by a succession of costume changes. A twist not found in Shakespeare is that in the final scene, when the artisans are performing their play before Theseus and the court, Puck uses magic to transform their acting from silly to sublime for a few brief moments.

In the 1980s came a radical reworking (UK/Spain, 1984) which used more of Shakespeare's text than Trnka had done, but not by much. Directed by Celestino Coronado, and based on a well‐travelled stage production, it posits the dream as being that of Puck in a lascivious and voyeuristic mood. The only bits of text used are those which Puck as satyr likes, and they are enhanced for him by the addition of sex, mime, and transvestism. No longer are the fleeing lovers, Demetrius and Helena, separated during their night in the forest—they lie together. Next morning, when he wakes with eyes befuddled by Puck's magic, the first person Demetrius sees and fancies is not Helena, but his rival Lysander. However Hermia, when she opens her eyes, does fall for Helena. They all make love, then change partners. In other parts of the wood Bottom, instead of acquiring an ass's head, turns into a horned Beast who excites and satisfies Titania (played by a man); and Oberon carries off the changeling boy—cause of his problems with Titania—for private pleasures.

A Royal Shakespeare Company production transferred to film (UK, 1996) similarly interprets it as one particular person's dream. In this case it is a sleeping boy, in ancient Athens, who becomes a silent onlooker. The production thus reaches out to touch and join earlier other‐land excursions such as The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. There are also, in the visuals, invocations of Beatrix Potter, Arthur Rackham, E.T., and Mary Poppins. This child's‐eye perception is extended by a presentation of the enchanted Athenian wood as a virtual world generated by computer. The dreaming boy is also, like Puck in the 1984 version, interested in the sexual potential of the comings and goings in the wood, but not so deeply.

Perhaps because of its fairy‐tale elements, A Midsummer Night's Dream seems to be the most versatile and adaptable of all Shakespeare's plays.

— Terry Staples

A Midsummer Night's Dream
original film poster
Directed by	Max Reinhardt William Dieterle
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Written by	Charles Kenyon Mary C. McCall Jr.
Starring	Ian Hunter James Cagney Mickey Rooney Olivia de Havilland Joe E. Brown Dick Powell Victor Jory
Music by	Felix Mendelssohn
Cinematography	Hal Mohr
Editing by	Ralph Dawson
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	October 30, 1935 (1935-10-30)
Running time	133 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$981,000[1]
Box office	$1.229 million[1]

Victor Jory as Oberon in an outtake

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) is an American film of Shakespeare's play, directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Henry Blanke and Hal Wallis for Warner Brothers, and adapted by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr. from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the previous year. Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska.

Contents 1 Cast 2 Production 3 Music 4 Distribution 4.1 Cancellations 4.2 Run times 5 Reception 6 Awards and nominations 7 References 8 External links

Cast

The Athenian Court:

• Ian Hunter as Theseus, Duke of Athens
• Verree Teasdale as Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
• Hobart Cavanaugh as Philostrate, Master of Revels to Theseus
• Dick Powell as Lysander, In love with Hermia
• Ross Alexander as Demetrius, In love with Hermia
• Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, In love with Lysander (as Olivia de Haviland)
• Jean Muir as Helena, In love with Demetrius
• Grant Mitchell as Egeus, Father to Hermia

The Workers:

• Frank McHugh as Quince, the Carpenter
• Dewey Robinson as Snug, the Joiner
• James Cagney as Bottom, the Weaver
• Joe E. Brown as Flute, the Bellows-mender
• Hugh Herbert as Snout, the Tinker
• Otis Harlan as Starveling, the Tailor
• Arthur Treacher as Epilogue

The Fairies:

• Victor Jory as Oberon, King of the Fairies
• Anita Louise as Titania, Queen of the Fairies
• Nini Theilade as Fairie, Attending Titania (as Nina Theilade)
• Mickey Rooney as Puck or Robin Goodfellow, a Fairy
• Katherine Frey as Pease-Blossom
• Helen Westcott as Cobweb
• Fred Sale as Moth
• Billy Barty as Mustard-Seed

Casting notes:
Many of the actors in this version had never previously performed Shakespeare and would not do so again, especially Cagney and Brown, who were nevertheless highly acclaimed for their performances. All critics agreed that Dick Powell was miscast as Lysander,^{[citation needed]} and Powell himself concurred with the critics' verdict.^{[citation needed]}

Olivia de Havilland originally auditioned for the role of Puck in Reinhardt's stage production of the play at the Hollywood Bowl.^{[citation needed]} Although the cast of the stage play was mostly replaced by Warner Brothers contract players, de Havilland and Mickey Rooney were chosen to reprise their original roles.

Avant-garde director Kenneth Anger claimed in his book Hollywood Babylon II to have played the changeling prince in this film when he was a child, but in fact the role was played by child star Sheila Brown.^{[citation needed]}

Production

Austrian-born director Max Reinhardt did not speak English at the time of the film's production. He gave orders to the actors and crew in German with William Dieterle acting as his interpreter. The film was banned in Nazi Germany because of the Jewish backgrounds of Reinhardt and composer Felix Mendelssohn.

The shooting schedule had to be rearranged after Mickey Rooney broke his leg while skiing. According to Rooney's memoirs, Jack Warner was furious and threatened to kill him and then break his other leg.

This was the film debut of Olivia de Havilland.^[2]

Music

Felix Mendelssohn's music was used, but re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Not all of it was from the incidental music that Mendelssohn had composed for A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1843. Other pieces used were excerpts from the Symphony No. 3 Scottish, the Symphony No. 4 Italian, and the Songs without Words, among others.

Distribution

Cancellations

At the time, cinemas entered into a contract to show the film, but had the right to pull out within a specified period of time. Cancellations usually ran between 20 and 50. The film established a new record with 2,971 cancellations. Booking agents had failed to correctly identify the film.^[3]

Run times

The film was first released at 132 minutes, but was edited to 117 minutes for its general release run. The full 132 minute version was not seen again until it turned up on cable television in 1994. The film was then re-issued at its full length on VHS (its first video release was of the edited version). Later showings on Turner Classic Movies have restored the film's pre-credits Overture, and its Exit Music, neither of which had been heard since its 1935 road show presentations. In August, 2007, it was released on DVD for the first time, both individually and as part of a box set known as The Shakespeare Collection.

Reception

This section requires expansion.

As of May 7, 2012, Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream holds an 88% rating on the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews.

Awards and nominations

The film won two Academy Awards:

• Best Cinematography - Hal Mohr
• Best Film Editing - Ralph Dawson

It was nominated for:

• Best Picture - Henry Blanke, producer
• Best Assistant Director - Sherry Shourds

Hal Mohr was not nominated for his work on the movie; he won the Oscar thanks to a grass-roots write-in campaign. It was Mohr who decided that the trees should be sprayed with orange paint, giving them the eerie glow which added to the "fairyland" effect in the film. The next year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declared that it would no longer accept write-in votes for the awards.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ ^{a b} H. Mark Glancy, “MGM Film Grosses, 1924-1948: The Eddie Mannix Ledger,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television , 12, no. 2 (1992), pp. 127-43
2. ^ Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from its Beginnings to the Present. New York: MacMillan. p. 125. ISBN 0-02-860429-6. 
3. ^ Wallechinsky, David; Amy Wallace (2005). The New Book of Lists. Canongate. p. 50. ISBN 1-84195-719-4. , originally in Robertson, Patrick (2001). Film Facts. p. 221. http://books.google.com/books?id=4PnEvNC_F9oC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=2,971+cancellations%2Bmidsummer&source=bl&ots=Q5lk8w8fce&sig=_9MFJvoX69GPzoTmVBR3F32VfNw&hl=en&ei=2P3jS4bOD4OBlAfM0-GTAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=2%2C971%20cancellations%2Bmidsummer&f=false. 

External links

• A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Internet Movie Database
• A Midsummer Night's Dream at the TCM Movie Database
• A Midsummer Night's Dream at AllRovi

v t e The films of William Dieterle 1920s Man by the Roadside Behind the Altar (with Julius Brandt) The Saint and Her Fool Sex in Chains The Brandenburg Arch (with Max Knaake) Triumph of Love Frühlingsrauschen Das Schweigen im Walde 1930s Die Maske fällt Kismet Ludwig der Zweite, König von Bayern Der Tanz geht weiter Eine Stunde Glück Die Heilige Flamme (with Berthold Viertel) The Last Flight Her Majesty, Love Man Wanted Jewel Robbery The Crash Six Hours to Live Scarlet Dawn Lawyer Man Grand Slam Adorable The Devil's in Love From Headquarters Fashions of 1934 Fog Over Frisco Madame Du Barry The Firebird The Secret Bride A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Max Reinhardt) Dr. Socrates The Story of Louis Pasteur The White Angel Satan Met a Lady The Great O'Malley Another Dawn The Life of Emile Zola Blockade Juarez The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1940s Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet A Dispatch from Reuter's The Devil and Daniel Webster Syncopation Tennessee Johnson Kismet I'll Be Seeing You Love Letters This Love of Ours The Searching Wind Portrait of Jennie The Accused Rope of Sand 1950s Paid in Full Volcano September Affair Dark City Peking Express Red Mountain Boots Malone The Turning Point Salome Elephant Walk Magic Fire Omar Khayyam Dubrowsky 1960s Mistress of the World Die Herrin der Welt - Teil II Die Fastnachtsbeichte The Confession

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