Midsummer Nights Dream (1935)

"Lavish and entertaining.  Charles Matthews, Oscar A To Z
"Captivating version of Shakespeare's classic...  Find-A-Video

Editor's Note This lush Hollywood version of Shakespeare's comedy features the music of Felix Mendelssohn. Also, this is the motion picture in which Olivia de Havilland made her screem debut. Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture. Academy Awards: Cinematography, Film Editing.

	James Cagney
	Joe E. Brown
	Mickey Rooney
	Olivia De Havilland
	Anton Grot - Art Director
	Charles Kenyon - Screenplay
	Hal B. Wallis - Executive Producer
	Hal Mohr - Cinematographer
	Jack L. Warner - Executive Producer
	Mary C. McCall, Jr. - Screenplay
	Max Reinhardt - Director
	Ralph Dawson - Editor
	William Dieterle - Director
	William Shakespeare - Based On Play By

A film adaptation of Shakespeare's tale of foolish mortals, squabbling fairies and mismatched lovers.| Most of the play takes place deep in the forest, where a quartet of human lovers have fled: Hermia and Demetrius, happily in love, do not wish to be split up by the law of their land. Hot on their heels are Lysander, out to claim Hermia for his bride, and Helena... hopelessly besotted with Lysander.| Unfortunately, the four get caught up in a battle between Oberon, king of the fairies, and his wife Titania. In order to teach his queen a lesson, Oberon has ordered the sprite Puck to employ magic so that she will fall in love with a country bumpkin... who's been turned into an ass. Puck, however, can't resist using a little of the fairy dust on the troubled mortals. comic confusion follows -- much to the mischievous Puck's delight... Sight and Sound
"[T]he glistening fantasy sequences of the Scherzo and Nocturne, mainly created in camera by Hal Mohr, still breathtaking -- true fairy magic, over the top and beyond." 07/01/2008 p.89

FilmsGraded.com 8 of 10
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy, and a rather strange one at that. All the characters are played for laughs except for Oberon, who is amusing despite his stern demeanor due to his outlandish costume. Cagney, Brown, Herbert, Rooney, and Powell are particularly campy. Powell has trouble keeping a straight face, while young Rooney is simply embarrassing as camera mugging troublemaker Puck. Rooney broke his leg in a sledding accident during a hiatus in the production. When shooting resumed, his scenes were filmed while he was stationed on a bicycle, hidden by scenery and moved about by stage hands. Cagney is also miscast, but is very game and entertaining...At over two hours, the film drags at times during its second half. The best scenes take place in the forest, when the fairies are in action. The necessity of a happy ending leads to predictable denouements, but the presentation of the amateur play helps perk things up. - Brian Koller