A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) User Reviews

"What fools these mortals be!"

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 28 November 2016]

Say, who is this Shakespeare guy anyway? He had some imagination.

This film has been on my must see list for some time, and the truth of the matter is because James Cagney was in it. I didn't think his role in the story would be as prominent as it was, but he rose to the occasion quite well considering he had to step out of his more familiar characters as a gangster or tough guy. You had to wonder how audiences of the day reacted to his being turned into a jackass; Cagney himself seemed to delight in the portrayal.

The other surprise for me here was Victor Jory in the role of Oberon, King of the Faeries. He played the part with a touch of malice and it occurred to me that he was more effective here than in any villain role I've seen him in. Quite comically, his instructions to mischief maker Puck (Mickey Rooney) ran the gamut of unintended consequences for a pair of star crossed lovers, not to mention Cagney's ill fated turn as a pointy eared mule.

Above all however, I was impressed by the stunning cinematography, costuming and special effects. Quite honestly, for 1935 I can't imagine how the film makers achieved those wonderful sequences involving the flight of the Faeries and those dazzling dance scenes. I realize it was still too early for the use of color in movies, but wouldn't that have been a glorious enhancement?

The only downside for this viewer was the extended finale that cast Cagney as Pyramus and Joe E. Brown as Thisby. It felt as if the excitement and glamour of the main story had already achieved it's desired effect, so sitting through those final moments felt like a chore to get through to make it to the end.

Anything Goes When Puck's on the Prowl in those woods.

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 17 December 2005]

A Midsummer Night's Dream was to be Jack Warner's bow to culture back during the Depression. The economical studio which specialized in urban dramas was doing something that normally MGM would have taken the lead in. In fact I'm not so sure that Louis B. Mayer decided that if Warner Brothers could make Shakespeare popular, he could do it better and hence Norma Shearer got to star in Romeo and Juliet.

The great German Impresario producer Max Reinhardt with co-direction from another German emigrant, William Dieterle, put this together. He played to Warner Brothers other strength, those Busby Berkeley musicals and their intricate numbers. Visually, A Midsummer Night's Dream is stunning with an ethereal quality as the various faeries and nymphs go through the woods. They do their thing to Mendelsohn's great music as arranged by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. In fact this was the start of Korngold's relationship with the brothers Warner and some of the great musical scores he wrote for them.

This was also the start of Olivia DeHavilland's great career. Olivia is one of the few major stars who literally went from unknown to star in one fell swoop. She had graduated high school and was doing some summer stock before entering college when Max Reinhardt spotted here while touring America with A Midsummer Night's Dream. When Warner Brothers got his services for this film, he brought with him Olivia and personally cast her as Hermia.

The film was held up with editing, scoring, retakes, and Olivia made and was seen in two low budget films before A Midsummer Night's Dream was released. So her debut is in a Joe E. Brown film, Alibi Ike. But this is her first film.

The material was familiar to Olivia, but not all her fellow players at Warner Brothers were so blessed. Dick Powell said that this film was one of the two worst experiences he had while at that studio. He had no training of any kind to do this classical piece and said he was lost through out the whole production.

James Cagney is no classical actor either, but as Bottom with or without the donkey's head on him, courtesy of Puck, Cagney brings his boisterous style to the proceedings and it works for the most part. Some of the other tradespeople in the town Frank McHugh, Dewey Robinson and Joe E. Brown look pretty lost though.

On loan out from MGM, Mickey Rooney steals the show as Puck. On orders from Victor Jory the Faerie King to play a little joke on his wife Anita Louise, Rooney casts a spell on her that will make her fall for the first living soul she sees. Rooney decides on is own to sweeten the joke by giving James Cagney a donkey's head and making sure that Louise sees him first. And of course the four lovers, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander, Jean Muir, and Olivia DeHavilland, Rooney confuses their affections as well as a bonus.

Rooney who was another kid actor up to this point, got his first real critical notices in this. It led to his becoming a major star over at MGM and Louis B. Mayer never lending him out to anyone again as long as he was under contract there.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a curious film. Shakespearean purists might recoil at some of the casting, but I'm sure it was entertaining enough for the Depression audiences.

More flaws than you can count! But I like it anyway...

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 24 October 2017]

Copyright 16 October 1935 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood, 9 October 1935. U.S. release: 8 October 1936 (sic.). U.K. release: October 1935. 17 reels. Australian release: 13 November 1935. 132 minutes (cut to 117 minutes for 1936 release).

SYNOPSIS: A musical comedy. Book by William Shakespeare. Songs by William Shakespeare (lyrics) and Felix Mendelssohn (music).

NOTES: Academy Award, Hal Mohr, Cinematography — a remarkable achievement considering that Mohr was not even nominated! The official nominations were Ray June (Barbary Coast), Victor Milner (The Crusades) and Gregg Toland (Les Miserables).*

Academy Award, Ralph Dawson, Film Editing (defeating David Copperfield, The Informer, Les Miserables, Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Mutiny on the Bounty).†

Also nominated for Best Picture (won by Mutiny on the Bounty).

Number 10 on the Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics. Film debut of Olivia de Havilland.

Negative cost: $1,300,000. Domestic rental gross: $1,543,447.

Other versions: a German silent film of 1925 starring Werner Krauss as Bottom, Ruth Weyher as Hermia and Tamara as Oberon, directed by Hans Neumann; an animated Czech feature of 1961; a BBC TV movie also of 1961; and a filmed performance of the New York City Ballet in 1966.

COMMENT: A box-office disaster in England and Australia, but a reasonable success in the U.S.A., "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a captivating and enchanting film. True, it has little of Shakespeare's poetry. Perhaps wisely, it concentrates on the fairies and the low humor of Bottom and his pals. The fairies are shown to advantage by the brilliant special effects photography, the low comedy is enhanced by an expert group of players led by Jimmy Cagney and Joe E. Brown — who are absolutely terrific.

Actually, Oberon has all the best lines, and Victor Jory makes the most of them. Similarly, while all the costumes are marvelous, Oberon's enormously billowing cape is an absolute stand-out.

Mickey Rooney makes a delightfully mischievous Puck. Olivia De Havilland (whose first film this was), Dick Powell and Ross Alexander are adequate enough, though we do not see much of them (at least in the 117 minute version). The songs, sets, music and dancers are also a joy.

In all, a most entertaining and visually imaginative movie — the only film directed by Reinhardt, a legendary stage producer, here working in tandem with his one-time protégé, Dieterle. A lavish production which will appeal to and amuse even those of us who can't stand Shakespeare.

* One of my favorite Hollywood anecdotes, the wonderful story of Mohr's Academy Award can be found in that excellent book, "The Art of the Cinematographer" by Leonard Maltin (Dover, New York, 1978).

† Sic transit gloria. Ralph Dawson wins the Oscar for Film Editing. So what does the studio do but get in some butcher to hack the movie down to 117 minutes. Thanks a lot, boys!

Astounding Shakespeare adaptation

[Jaime N. Christley · 17 April 1999]

Since "Shakespeare in Love" made that particular playwright happening and new, check out this, Warner Bros.' wild, expensive, free-wheeling adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

For me, James Cagney makes the movie. He's Nick Bottom, the leader (or so he believes) of a traveling troupe of actors. He gives an invigorating performance--the screen is his. At one point, he gets to wear a donkey's head (if you know the play, you know what I'm talking about), but it doesn't faze him in the least. Cagney, the most energetic screen actor, doesn't let his over-the-top approach mar his skill or care with The Bard's great words. It's the test of anyone wishing to act out a part in a Shakespeare play, which Cagney passes, to "speak" the dialogue, and by doing so, make what might be confusing on the page understandable to audiences on the screen or stage.

Warner really spared no expense with this production, which I think might have been the costliest of that year. The whole affair is like a dream in every way--it seems to sway in the wind, fragile to the touch. It features Mendolssohn music, soft-white photography (the great Hal Mohr), and some of the most incredible sets and costumes you're likely to see in a 1930s film.

Nominated for three Academy Awards: Picture, Cinematography and Editing. Bested by "Mutiny on the Bounty" for the first, it won the other two.

More Mendelssohn than Shakespeare

[charlesem · 6/10 · 16 March 2017]

The spirit that animates this version of the play is not that of William Shakespeare but Felix Mendelssohn. Shakespeare's text has been trimmed to a nubbin and hashed up by the "arrangers," Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr., and it's gabbled by the all-star cast. Strangely, Olivia de Havilland as Hermia and Mickey Rooney as Puck are the worst offenders, and they are the only members of the cast of Max Reinhardt's celebrated 1934 Hollywood Bowl production, which inspired Warner Bros. to film the play, who made it into the movie. De Havilland delivers her lines with heavy emphasis on seemingly random words and with odd pauses, while Rooney punctuates every line with giggles, chortles, and shrieks that affect some viewers like fingernails on a chalkboard. Nobody in the cast seems to be aware that they're speaking verse. Fortunately, the decision was made to use the Mendelssohn overture and incidental music (along with snippets of other works by Mendelssohn), and to have it orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The result is an opulently balletic version of the play, taking advantage of what can be done in movies that can't be done on stage. Is it good? Maybe not, but it's much more fun than the stodgily reverent version of Romeo and Juliet (George Cukor, 1936) that MGM came up with the following year. Casting James Cagney as Bottom/Pyramus and Joe E. Brown as Flute/Thisby was a masterstroke, and if they had been directed by someone with a surer sense of American comic idiom than Reinhardt, the Viennese refugee from Hitler who spoke very little English (Dieterle acted as interpreter), the results would have been classic -- as it is, they're just bumptious fun. Much of the movie is sheer camp, reminiscent of the twee illustrations for children's books in the early 20th century. But there is a spectacular moment in the film when Oberon (Victor Jory) gathers the fairies, gnomes, and bat- winged sprites to depart, under a billowing black train that sometimes resembles smoke. The cinematography by Hal Mohr won the only write-in Oscar ever granted by the Academy. (charlesmatthews.blogspot.com)

Gets Tiresome

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 15 May 2020]

Directors Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle work overtime to infuse this screen version of Shakespeare's comedy with elements of magic and whimsy. This means decorating the sets with lights and tinsel and using all kinds of photographic effects to make things look misty and dreamy. But most often their efforts result in visual chaos, and especially during the long ballet scenes that find dancers not so much dancing in any kind of choreographic unison but rather jumping and leaping around randomly across the frame.

The performances are all over the place. Dick Powell delivers his lines like he's never come within 100 feet of anything Shakespeare related in his life. Anita Louise, as Titania, delivers all of her lines in a high-pitched sing song that made my ears bleed. Mickey Rooney is absolutely unwatchable as Puck. His overacting and grotesque mugging made me physically uncomfortable. Olivia de Havilland fairs well as Hermia, even if her role isn't much fun. Leave it to, of all people, James Cagney to deliver the film's best performance as Bottom. Who would have thought this fireplug of an actor most known (at the time anyway) for tough-guy gangster roles would have the surest grasp of Shakespearean language?

The film is diverting enough during all of the scenes set in the magical forest. But the play within the play that takes up the last 15 or so minutes of the movie goes on forever and is painfully unfunny. And weirdly, it feels like a good 3/4 of the movie comes after the intermission, which makes it feel even longer.

Hal Mohr carved a place for himself in Oscar trivia for becoming the only person ever to win an Oscar as a write-in candidate when he took home the award for his cinematography for this film. The Academy disbanded the practice of allowing write-in nominations the very next year. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" also brought Ralph Dawson an Oscar for Best Film Editing, the second year in a row he won that award. It received another write-in nomination in the strange and obsolete category of Best Assistant Director, and was one of the 12 films nominated in 1935 for Best Picture, the year that saw the big prize go to "Mutiny on the Bounty."

Grade: B-

A True Classic

[montebank · 10/10 · 24 December 2002]

The movie is dated, true. In fact, seeing 30's Hollywood's version of Shakespearian England's version of Athenian costuming is a delight in itself. But the actors in this rendition are just amazing. Not only is the cast impressive (Cagney, Brown, Rooney, D'Havilland, Powell), but they are doing the roles with the right mixture of buffoonery and dedication to Shakespeare's love of high and low comedy together.

The casting of Cagney as Bottom was brilliant, his mixture of swagger and obliviousness is perfect, especially when played off of the great Joe E. Brown, who's rubber faced quiet performance is uproarious. Young Mickey Rooney is a wonderful puck, light and athletic, it may be his finest work. The special effects manage to give off the feeling of faerie, without overpowering what is going on. And the weaving of the two stories together works as well as might be hoped for.

I consider this to be the classic definitive Midsummer's Night Dream films. No other can ever measure up.

An uneven but, at its best, very fine movie

[richard-1787 · 7/10 · 22 June 2010]

This is not a faultless masterpiece, but neither is it as bad as some of the posters on here claim. It is most certainly uneven: there are dance sequences that go on too long and other things that do not work. But there is also a great deal that is quite simply remarkable.

First is Cagney's performance as Bottom. No, he doesn't sound English. But yes, he delivers his lines very well. More than that, he truly makes a human being, and an at times very moving and complex one, out of what was probably meant to be a mere buffoon. You feel for him when he awakens in the forest and recalls that he had been an ass. You laugh at but also with him when he becomes thoroughly wrapped up in the terrible play his company performs. And, of course, being the superlative dancer that he was, he has the agility to do whatever he wants.

Some of the other good performances are also among the players. Joe E. Brown is very funny as Flute, Frank McHugh is remarkably good as Quince. Hugh Herbert, on the other hand, is very aggravating as Snout.

There are other good surprises. Grant Mitchell is very good as Hermia's father.

And then there are the good things that don't come as a surprise.

Ian Hunter recites the lines like a true Shakespearean. It's a shame his part, Theseus, is so small. He's a pleasure to listen to.

There are other things to recommend this movie as well.

The sets for Athens and the Duke's court are really very beautiful, and sometimes very imaginative. Warner Brothers was, after all, the studio that gave us such great historical movies in the 1930s as Robin Hood and The Sea Hawk, so I suppose those sets don't come as a surprise, though they are certainly a pleasure. The same can be said of the costumes of the court.

And there is also the ingenuity of Max Reinhardt's staging. Some of it falls flat, yes. But some of it is remarkably imaginative and, for me at least, a great pleasure.

Many of the previous posters remarked on Mickey Rooney's Puck. Puck is supposed to be aggravating, half-human and half-animal, and Rooney is very good at being that. He really looks like a "wild boy," nothing like he appears in his other movies. I don't like the character, but I guess Rooney does a fine job with it.

The play itself is uneven, far from being one of Shakespeare's masterpieces. Some of the characters - the four lovers - are really uninteresting, and there really is no forward momentum to it. On the other hand, there is some astoundingly beautiful poetry in the play, passages as beautiful as any in the English language. These are delivered in the movie in all their beauty, admittedly most often by Ian Hunter and Victor Jory.

Reinhardt was also intent on using a lot of Mendelsohn's incidental music. While much of that music is very beautiful, some of it really slows the play down, and Reinhardt's ingenuity is not always up to holding our visual attention as well as Mendelsohn does with our aural attention.

So, an uneven but often fascinating movie. No one, with the exception of Hugh Herbert, embarrasses himself, and many of the performers are very good, some surprisingly so given the other roles they played in movies. Reinhardt's imagination is sometimes if not always very rewarding.

If you don't like Shakespeare, I don't know if this play will change your mind. If you do love it, you may be aggravated by some of what is done with it here, but you should be delighted with other parts. Not a perfect movie, by any means, and one that could have used some trimming. But still, a wonderful movie that merits viewing.

You will believe in fairies

[lokismumm · 10/10 · 1 October 2005]

I came across this movie one rainy afternoon on TV. Jimmy Cagney doing Shakespeare? Surely not! My expectations were, frankly, low. We English are a bit funny about Shakespeare, as you can imagine, and the thought of the dirty rat as one of the bard's greatest comic creations was worrying, to say the least. The whole film is, however, magical. I laughed out loud at the wall joke, even though I knew what was coming, and Roony's Puck was, as another contributor says, probably his best performance. Bottom's realisation that he is now the proud possessor of an ass's head is quite affecting. It's Titania's fairies, though, that make this such a wonderful experience. I have seen this a couple of times since that rainy afternoon, and am always convinced that it will not live up to my expectations. It always does, though. The sheer beauty of the scene where the fairies awake is, as we say over here, gob-smacking. I am sure that this could never be done with such picturesque quality in colour. I had this on tape for a long time, and then I lent it to some eejit who erased it. I scan the listings every week to see if it's on TV, and when it is I shall make sure that it never leaves my possession.

Cagney does Shakespeare, and it works, mostly

[grantss · 6/10 · 27 June 2020]

James Cagney does Shakespeare - who'd thunk it? And he does well, though the Cagney stereotypes linger in your mind, esp as he sounds like a Jimmy Cagney the hoodlum, Jimmy Cagney the G-Man...

Overall, a good adaptation of the Shakespeare play. Some annoying features, especially the kid/fairy, but mostly quite likable.

Nice but just nice.

[DarthVoorhees · 5/10 · 27 October 2011]

Probably my choice for Shakespeare's most overrated play. I actually think this thing is a very dark comedy. It's views on love are twisted and cynical and cute little Puck is a sadistic little bastard. If I were to direct a production it would probably depress people.

This particular production has great things about it, namely Jim Cagney as Bottom. Brilliant performance and one of the best Shakespeare to screen interpretations I've ever seen. He has such manic energy and excitement which is perfect for the character. The problem is when he get's his ass's head which is painfully fake looking it really takes away from the performance. I suppose this might be an instance where I might crave for CGI but I don't see why every production of this play insists on making the ass head so literal. Some practical make-up effects and a humanized ass head allowing for expressiveness from the actor are sorely craved.

Reinhardt was a brilliant theatre director and this is really the only thing we have left of his work. It gives us a nice feel of what his production of this play would have looked like theatrically. He seems to really love the close up though and I kind of wished he would move back so it would be closer to a theatrical experience. There are elaborate spectacles with the fairies which are beautifully choreographed and sung.

My big problem with the film? The Mickster as Puck. A little bit of Mickey Rooney goes a long way. Of course they wanted him in this thing to show how cute he was and hearing his voice go through Shakespeare is irritating.

SUPERB!

[artzau · 10/10 · 2 April 2001]

Thalberg's pledge to give back to the people something good is seen in this project realized 66 years ago. Everyone is acting! No one struts or swains, dying to be a star. The young, superlovely Olivia de Havilland is a gorgeous and fun Hermia in her maiden role. Dick Powell and Ross Alexander as the two Athenian youths confused by Puckish Mickey Rooney Robin Goodfellow are wonderful in their entanglement with beautiful Jean Muir's Helena. The players, Frank McHugh, Dewey Robinson, Hugh Herbert, Grant Mitchell and the wonderful snob's snob, Arthur Treacher are topped by Jimmy ("you dirty rat") Cagney [trivia buffs know he never said those lines except in response to Gorshen and Rich Little's impressions of him at a roast before his death] and Joe E. Brown's Flute. Victor Jory, often cast as a villain is great as Oberon, as is lovely Anita Louise as Titania. There's not a weak spot in this cast and the entire play, in living Black and White, is soft, diffused and whispery as a summer night. Erich W. Korngold's music is supplemented by the exquisite Mendelssohn score and look for a tiny Billy Barty as Mustardseed, one of the sprites. There are other fine ones, the RSC's 1968 and the recent 1999 are wonderful, but, fans, take it from an old Shakespeare buff, this one is an immortal production.

Great special effects

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 6 December 2019]

When you watch a Kenneth Branagh Shakespearian movie, one of the trademarks you'll see is the chance for actors you'd never imagine reciting those lines getting a chance to act in a new genre. I don't know if he got the idea from the 1935 classic, but A Midsummer Night's Dream put together a bunch of Warner Brothers studio actors to prance around and talk in poetry. Can you imagine a non-gangster James Cagney? How about Dick Powell without his dancing shoes? Mickey Rooney, Frank McHugh, and Joe E. Brown? Believe it or not, all those actors were given the opportunity to recite Shakespeare, alongside Olivia de Havilland, Ian Hunter, and Verree Teasdale, Ross Alexander, and Jean Muir.

If you don't know the original story, and you're anything like me, check out a CliffsNotes version so you can understand what's happening. I'd read a comic book for kids and seen the 1999 remake, but if I hadn't, I probably would have gotten lost. Those who aren't used to old movies might find themselves incredibly bored, but I urge them to take a few things into consideration: This was Olivia de Havilland's screen debut, so if it seems like her gestures popped up out of a silent movie, cut her some slack. This is a stylized fantasy; what do you expect her to do? Mickey Rooney, as we know now, was put on all sorts of pills to keep his energy up during his movies when he was a youth. He was told to act like a troublemaking fairy and giggle incessantly, so that's exactly what he did. And finally, keep in mind this movie was made in 1935. There weren't special effects back then, so when you watch the dance of the fairies, and double-exposure, the flying, and the excessive use of glitter, have fun with it! Don't criticize it and think how fake it looks; get involved in the fantasy. There will be plenty of times to zone out, especially during Joe E. Brown's scenes-during which you can compare who's wearing more eye makeup, James Cagney or Olivia-but during the fun parts, appreciate them.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 18 July 2010]

An appreciation for this version of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is likely to depend on how you feel about seeing the Warner Bros. stars as its repertory company. At the time, the studio's three biggest box office draws were Dick Powell, Joe E. Brown, and James Cagney; and, they receive three of the play's meatier roles. In 1935, Mr. Brown's fey characterization of "Flute" was the film's highest praised. Over the years, Mr. Cagney's boisterous "Bottom" has risen with his in correspondingly increased stature. Most everyone, including the actor himself, has panned Mr. Powell's love-struck "Lysander".

Efforts to trim the running time couldn't make the film much of a hit, but those who saw it could tell horned teenager Mickey Rooney was going places, though his "Puck" remains an acquired taste. The beautiful Olivia de Havilland's lovely "Hermia" definitely increased her Warners stock. Ross Alexander, Jean Muir, and Victor Jory shine by being less familiar. The film's art/set design and Hal Mohr's photography of such are the film's greatest strengths. But, this is Shakespeare, after all; cinematography shouldn't be the main calling card. Mr. Mohr won an "Academy Award" as a write-in; henceforth, they were forbidden.

***** A Midsummer Night's Dream (10/9/35) Max Reinhardt ~ Mickey Rooney, James Cagney, Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland

Mickey Rooney in this thing

[jbuck_919 · 5 June 2002]

Though another commentator disagrees, if Rooney is not the greatest Puck you've ever seen, then tell me who is. With all respect to a talented actor, the sad part is that he played his greatest role when he was, what, 14?

The greatest Shakespeare movie of all time, in my opinion. The dazzling cinematography for its age. The fact that they got the mostly American actors to speak the lines properly. That inspired scene with a fairy jazz band. The special "star spangled" effect.

The criticism that scenes are overly long is related to a more modern perception of how long a scene should be, and alas, Shakespeare is mostly unmercifully cut (look at Olivier's last "King Lear"--Branaghs "Hamlet" would be an exception). Shakespeare just wrote long scenes. You woulnd't have Juliet on the balcony just say "I love you, Romeo," and disappear.

Trying at times, but worth seeing

[gjf221b · 6/10 · 11 January 2000]

By lunging for some quick prestige, Warner Brothers recorded the approach to the play taken by the esteemed emigre stage director Max Reinhardt in his famous production at the Hollywood Bowl a year earlier. The Reinhardt style was considered striking stuff in the mid-'30s -- today it comes across as a thoroughly traditional approach, with poetically blurred cinematography, twinkling stars, misty woods, fairies that flutter, trill and prance, Mendelssohn music, and heavy cutting of the text to allow time for musical interludes and assorted prancing through the greensward. It's respectful, entertaining and has some striking moments _ although it's not the classic the studio was obviously hoping for. Since Warners' contract roster wasn't exactly the Old Vic, the casting is hit and miss. The hits include James Cagney playing Bottom as an energetic, amiably clueless hambone; the beguiling and spirited Olivia de Havilland as Hermia (her film debut); Anita Louise as an angelically beautiful and graceful Titania; and Victor Jory's authoritative, rather sinister Oberon. As for the misses: Dick Powell and Ross Alexander's twerpy Lysander and Demetrius, and, Lord help us, Mickey Rooney as Puck _ after about five minutes of his braying, chortling and mugging, you start hoping W.C. Fields will show up.

Attention: This is Not a Shakespeare Movie

[audiemurph · 7/10 · 23 March 2015]

Don't get me wrong: this is a fine movie, and often a dreamy and captivating one at that; but, if you are expecting to see an interpretation of a Shakespeare play, you will be disappointed. What I mean is, Warner Brothers decided that the movie should focus primarily on what movies do best, which is to create a magical experience for the viewer; hence, the overwhelming majority of the movie is spent on phantasmic and mystical sets, wondrous special effects, and outrageous costumes and dance numbers, all for the goal of transporting you into a dream-world of fairies and gnomes and star-crossed lovers.

For a secondary goal, the producers wanted to show off their two major stars, James Cagney and Mickey Rooney. Rooney, only 14 or so, was a young man of incredible talent, possessing perhaps the finest natural gift for entertainment in all of American cinematography. Does he over-act here, as many have complained? I don't think so; he is appropriately exuberant, and, well, Puckish. A worse problem is that his voice was just changing, and is awfully harsh and grating at times, caught as it is is between childhood and adulthood.

Mendelssohn's music is featured heavily also throughout, being used to enhance the spectral quality of our film.

But what about Shakespeare? The play itself is one of the Master's shorter plays, and can be read through out loud in about 2 hours. A Shakespeare play is primarily about the words, and the poetry. Unfortunately, the producers of this movie version easily cut out over 80% - I am not exaggerating - of the lines of the 4 lovers and Theseus and Hippolyta. Almost no speech of more than 4 or 5 lines remained unmassacred. As a result, the script is choppy and unpoetic, dreadful really. A lot of the logic of the speeches and the story are completely lost, due to the devastating excising of the script; just one example: Theseus overrides Egeus' wish to have Demetrius marry Hermia, without him ever actually being told that Demetrius no longer loves her, and has fallen for Helena instead.

If you are a hard-core Shakespeare reader, you will also note, frustratingly, how just about all the "thees" and "thous" have been changed to "you-s". One of the great pleasures of reading Elizabethan drama is to follow how playwrights' characters switch back and forth between thee-ing and you-ing, depending on the relationships between the speakers; "Thee" is used either to express closeness, or deliberate informal insult and contempt; "You" is subtle, defining a respectful relationship, or helping to preserve distance between speakers. All of this is lost in the movie.

And why do so many of the characters have to laugh uncontrollably while they are speaking? Just another minor irritation, I guess.

So, while this version of MND is great fun as a movie, don't expect to get to hear a lot of the poetry of the Bard.

A magical dream

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 16 July 2021]

Pre-1950 film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays have varied in quality. Some were good and more, especially Laurence Olivier's brilliant 1948 adaptation of 'Hamlet', though that is something to see on its own terms. Others were average or less, with one example being the 1936 film of 'As You Like It', which was very static and stagy and had a badly miscast Rosalind. Had little doubt that this film would be at least above average, considering that the play is one of Shakespeare's best and because the cast is so good.

1935's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a dream. To me it is not just the best screen/film adaptation of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (bar none), it is also one of the best film versions of any Shakespeare play pre-1950 and perhaps overall. As well as one of the best adaptations of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' full stop, for me only the National Theatre Live and Julie Taymor productions are better though once again as standalones. It has very few if any of the things that other early Shakespeare film adaptations did and is full of magic and entertainment value. It's not perfect, but there is so much to adore here.

For one thing, the photography is exquisite and the settings and such are very lavish and rustic. The world one is immersed in being truly fantastical. Also loved the use of Mendelssohn's music, the music itself some of his best loved for good reason (and he was only 16 when he wrote it!) and it is used cleverly and tastefully. Korngold's, one of my favourite film composers, contribution is typically lush and rousing without being over-scored.

The dancing is beautifully choreographed and danced with great grace and elegance, as well as shot and edited in an appropriately dream-like way. The writing is still incredibly funny, without trying too hard, and also beautifully poetic. The story is incredibly charming and told with great spirit, doing nothing to confuse a story that is already quite complicated. The action is opened up enough to not betray stage origins and the atmosphere is suitably magical. The direction is beautifully theatrical, Reinhardt's theatre roots are evident without hurting the drama. The comedy hits the mark, especially with Bottom.

Most of the performances are great, with two exceptions. James Cagney is a sheer delight as Bottom in a role that is so different to what he was usually cast as and shows that he did have a light and funny side to him. Mickey Rooney's performance has left people more mixed, count me in as one of the people that loved his Puck and consider it one of his better performances. The mischievous energy he embodies is infectious. Olivia De Havilland is a charming Hermia and Victor Jory a sinister, amusing and textbook Oberon. Anita Louise's Titania is spirited and regal and Ian Hunter and Joe E. Brown are very good.

Only two performances don't come over as well. One is Dick Powell, who is very bland and too earnest. The other is the very irritating Hugh Herbert, who was always an acquired taste and was very take and leave for me.

Also found the finale on the overblown side.

Concluding however, great. 9/10.

beautiful to look at, even magical to see, everything else... I'm not sure

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 27 July 2008]

I remember seeing this film in a college art class, and my impressions of the movie remain that it was one of those superlatively imagined films. How could it not with Max Reinhardt at the helm, which was in fact his one big movie that got made with William Dieterle as co-director? His vision is what is really what makes the most and best of this adaptation of the Bard's most fairy-tale-ish story. Certainly, at the least, it's worth watching for the strange, hit-or-miss quality of the acting, which includes the likes of Cagney and Rooney (who's a kid here), and one woman I can't remember her name as but was really impressive. What the film amounts to is something sweet and tasty to savor, even if it doesn't have the inherent substance one might like from Shakespeare. Maybe it was meant as a pure visual fantasy, as opposed to simply that of a creaky theater stage or other, which is great. I just don't remember it, or can recommend it, as being a great movie exactly.

A Magical, Musical, Marvelous Movie

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 15 January 2000]

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.

This is a good movie

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 7/10 · 1 August 2016]

This is true classic. This is the movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. It is very funny. This is the first movie where some said fart. Now do not know the first movie were some blow a fart. But this is the first movie were some said fart. It surprised me to hear that world in movie. I think that is a very funny word. This a very funny movie. It a great fantasy movie. See it. I give it 7 out of 10. William Shakespeare was a great writer. Ian Hunter was a great actor. Dick Powell was a great actor. Olivia d.e Havilland is a great actress. Ross Alexander was a great actor. Jean Muir was great actress. See this movie. It is a great movie.

Shakespeare Ruined by Mickey saved by a Gangster

[alien1011 · 5/10 · 20 April 2014]

An early film adaptation of Shakespeare and it's aged pretty well. There are some obvious moments where modern film-making would have improved things, especially the lighting. The long version is really long, with the ethereal fairies moving about in a way that added nothing to the film.

As for the acting, my primary negative takeaway is with Puck. Mickey Rooney played the sprite, and over acted it entirely. At the start, it was mildly charming. With every scene it was made worse with his voice and his laugh. I came to dread every scene in which Puck was in. It wasn't helped by the lovers being uninteresting as well. There wasn't much chemistry between them and Lysander also had an unfortunate laugh.

The film was saved, by two things. One, it's Shakespeare. The plot and dialogue are solid and it was a fine adaptation. The best part of the movie, were the players. Joe E. Brown's comic relief was great. The last scene of the movie featured him and it leaves one with a great feeling of the movie.

The surprising, was James Cagney as Bottom. His part was perfectly played as an over-acted role and he was clearly having fun doing it. He was deserving of an Academy Award nomination, as it really was one of the best of his career. To anyone thinking of him as just a hard nosed gangster, he had some great range.

It was truly a joy to watch Cagney, and I almost wonder how he would have handled the Puck role. It couldn't have made things worse than Mickey Rooney already did. Watch this movie because it's Shakespeare and James Cagney. Just try not to let Mickey Rooney force you to stop before the end.

A classic film of one of Shakespeare's best plays.

[ZiggyMama · 10/10 · 14 December 2005]

What a wonderful congregation of talent! Newer versions may have color and language easier for the modern ear to understand, but lovers of Shakespeare should make a point of watching this classic! Although sometimes dim and patchy, for its time, this movie contained some very inventive visual effects, effectively drawing the viewer into the fairy world. And, considering the materials of the era, one has to wonder at the time and effort involved in the construction of the fairy costumes and environment.

James Cagney's portrayal of Bottom, the tinker, shows a seldom seen side of the actor, who is more often remembered for his tough guys and dancing roles. While wearing a full-face donkey head, he was able to convey all the emotions from fright to joy through body language.

Mickey Rooney's portrayal of Puck, the mischievous wood sprite, showed his early natural talent for mimickry and comedy that would evolve in the coming years.

Other actors, who were known but not yet as famous as they would be in later years, and stars from the earliest years of film also lent their talents to this picture. Joe E. Brown, Hugh Herbert, Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, and many others make this film a true Classic!

Wild!

[fritzlangville · 7/10 · 6 August 2023]

Some performances, and some of the best for that matter, are so over the top it's incredible. But if anyone has seen a Shakespeare in the Park production by their local theatre company, over the top acting is not uncommon. James Cagney and Mickey Rooney lead the pack in this case. Cagney however is brilliant in his interpretation of Bottom. It's hard to believe this is the same actor who played The Public Enemy. Cagney proves his range was far far greater than just playing gangsters. Rooney doesn't just border on annoying he is annoying plus did they shrink him for the role? He looks like he's 8 years old! Oliva De Havilland is astonishingly beautiful and excellent as Hermia. A great production brings the magical dream world to life with ballet sequences, gauze, sparkles and of course Mendelsohn's brilliant score! This is the best version.

Ok adaptation

[ThomasColquith · 5/10 · 15 November 2022]

I liked "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935) to an extent, but it did have its flaws. First the positives, I always liked Olivia de Havilland and she is good here as usual, the music is very nice, the cinematography and effects are very good for its age, the sets and costumes are likewise good. Now the negatives, the film goes on a bit too long, parts should have been edited down, especially the ending skit got to be really annoying with the constant laughing and goofs. The Puck laughing also became grating and too frequent. This is worth a watch though if you like Shakespeare, I am not a big fan of his, but I can appreciate his work to an extent, especially the comedies. My rating: 5/10.