A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1935: William Dieterle, Max Reinhardt
This is, like most of these films, something of a mixed bag. The acting ranges from the good to the rather shaky, but it’s mostly in the positive column.
Still, it captures with a unique vision something of the magic of the play. Its extraordinary use of textural effects in black and white give it a remarkable visual richness for its age. The cinematography by Hal Mohr won the first and only Oscar ever awarded on a write-in, and it’s well deserved. There are a number of notable actors in this production, not least among them Victor Jory, Olivia de Havilland, Joe E. Brown, and James Cagney. In addition we have a very young Mickey Rooney as a boyish Puck, with a disconcerting and insane-sounding laugh.
Perhaps more than any of the other productions, this one is dominated by music. Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who was to go on to become one of the leading composers of film scores until his death in 1957, began his film career here, by adapting Felix Mendelssohn’s occasional music for the play (which shows up in several other film versions as well). At least one piece of the film (starting at about 100 minutes into the film) is almost pure ballet, combining music and dance in a way that’s rather evocative of a black-and-white rendition of some of the more serious parts of Disney’s Fantasia. It suggests not only the wonder of the story, but also the collision of light and dark themes that are implicit in the play.
There is nothing here that should offend against even the standards of a G rating. Some parts of it may seem to drag for impatient students attuned primarily to action adventure films, but with a little time its peculiarities become familiar and its charms dominate. Definitely worth seeing.
Bottom: James Cagney
Changeling Prince: Sheila Brown
Cobweb: Helen Westcott
Demetrius: Ross Alexander
Egeus: Grant Mitchell
Epilogue: Arthur Treacher
Fairie Attending Titania: Nini Theilade
Flute: Joe E. Brown
Helena: Jean Muir
Hermia: Olivia de Havilland
Hippolyta: Verree Teasdale
Lysander: Dick Powell
Moth: Fred Sale
Mustard-Seed: Billy Barty
Oberon: Victor Jory
Pease-Blossom: Katherine Frey
Philostrate: Hobart Cavanaugh
Puck: Mickey Rooney
Quince: Frank McHugh
Snout: Hugh Herbert
Snug: Dewey Robinson
Starveling: Otis Harlan
Theseus: Ian Hunter
Titania: Anita Louise