A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

Directors:

William Dieterle
Max Reinhardt

Writers:

William Shakespeare (play)
Charles Kenyon (arranged for the screen by) ...

Release Date:

30 October 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

A New Triumph In Movie History !

Plot:

Theseus, Duke of Athens, is going to marry Hyppolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Demetrius is engaged with Hermia...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Actor | Magic | Play | Fairy

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Ian Hunter	...	Theseus, Duke of Athens
Verree Teasdale	...	Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Philostrate, Master of Revels to Theseus
Dick Powell	...	Lysander, In love with Hermia
Ross Alexander	...	Demetrius, In love with Hermia
Olivia de Havilland	...	Hermia, In love with Lysander (as Olivia de Haviland)
Jean Muir	...	Helena, In love with Demetrius
Grant Mitchell	...	Egeus, Father to Hermia
Frank McHugh	...	Quince, the Carpenter
Dewey Robinson	...	Snug, the Joiner
James Cagney	...	Bottom, the Weaver
Joe E. Brown	...	Flute, the Bellows-mender
Hugh Herbert	...	Snout, the Tinker
Otis Harlan	...	Starveling, the Tailor
Arthur Treacher	...	Epilogue

Runtime:

133 min | USA:117 min (edited version) | USA:142 min (with overture and exit music)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #752)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

William Dieterle had full charge as director for about a week because of a breach-of-contract suit filed against Max Reinhardt by a French film company. The judge found in favor of Reinhardt, and lifted the restraining order.

Quotes:

Oberon, King of the Fairies: Ill-met by moonlight, proud Titania!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Jeopardy!: (#22.32)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Scherzo in E-Minor

A Magical, Musical, Marvelous Movie

What?! James Cagney, Mickey Rooney & Dick Powell doing Shakespeare? Yes, indeed, and very well, too.

This is one of the most magical films of the 1930's. Warner Brothers lavished great care upon it and it glows like the moonlight in many of its most famous scenes.

The plot is a familiar one to all lovers of Shakespeare. Four desperate lovers steal away into the enchanted forest outside ancient Athens. There they are spied upon by the King of Fairies, Oberon, who is having domestic difficulties of his own with his fair Queen, Titania. Meanwhile, seven intellectually-challenged Athenian rustics have come to the same woods to practice a play they wish to perform at the nuptial celebrations of the local nobility. Puck, the fairy mischief-maker, has a ball causing difficulty for nearly everyone.

Hal Mohr, the Cinematographer, did a marvelous job. He makes you think he was filming by moonlight. For this film he was awarded the only Oscar ever won due to a write-in vote. The dreamy Mendelssohn music is also used to great effect.

The entire cast is excellent and the American accents of many of them does no injury to the Shakespearean verse. This was Olivia de Havilland's film debut and she is beautiful. Others include Ian Hunter, Joe E. Brown, Anita Louise, Victor Jory, Frank McHugh, Jean Muir, Hugh Herbert, Arthur Treacher & Billy Barty. Ross Alexander, groomed for stardom by Warners, had his best role here as one of the young lovers. Fame never smiled on him and two years later, relegated to minor films, he was to die a suicide.