The magical Warner Bros. production of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1935) is now available on a beautiful Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.
As a homeschooling parent years ago, I bought the original Warner Bros.
DVD for our children to watch.
I hadn't seen it in years before catching it at the
2018 TCM Classic Film Festival, after which I wrote that "its silvery cinematography...made a big impression; that was one of the titles I'd not been especially enthused about which ended up being a high point in the festival. I was so glad I chose to see it!"
It was truly special seeing that shimmering forest on a big screen in the dark at the festival, and I appreciated the movie's high quality anew. I was delighted to return to it this week thanks to the gorgeous Blu-ray, which is sure to delight fans of classic films, Shakespeare, or both. It's exquisite.
This film, inspired by a 1934 Hollywood Bowl production by
Max Reinhardt, was directed by Reinhardt and
William Dieterle. One of the film's stars,
Olivia de Havilland, was signed by Warner Bros. due to her appearance in the Hollywood Bowl production.
The film's beautiful, mystical tone is ushered in by an overture of Mendelssohn's music, arranged by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. This print includes not only the six-and-a-half-minute overture but three minutes of exit music and a brief intermission card. Altogether it combines for a running time of 133 minutes.
Loosely described, the plot initially finds Theseus (Ian Hunter), the Duke of Athens, newly returned home from war with Hippolyta (Verree Teasdale), Queen of the Amazons, whose people he has just conquered.
Theseus and Hippolyta are about to be married, and while Hippolyta initially seems a bit reluctant under the circumstances, Theseus does his best to woo her. He's happy at the prospect of the wedding and announces there will be extensive revels and generally a good time.
It's fun to note that Hunter and Teasdale played husband and wife a few years later in
COME LIVE WITH ME (1941). I'll also mention here that the Shakespearean dialogue absolutely rolls off Hunter's tongue; "
King Richard" is terrific, and I think the ease of understanding him as the story gets underway does a great deal to pull viewers into the Shakespearean rhythms.
The rest of the plot melds together a couple main storylines which take place overnight in a nearby forest. Lysander (
Dick Powell) and Demetrius (Ross Alexander) are each in love with Hermia (de Havilland), while Helena (Jean Muir) moons after Demetrius.
Meanwhile Oberon (Victor Jory), King of the Fairies, and his wife, Queen Titania (a luminous
Anita Louise) are at odds over bringing up an adopted "Changeling Prince" (Sheila Brown), with Oberon also upset that nurturing the little one is diverting all of Titania's attention.
Oberon, aided by his little henchman Puck (Mickey Rooney), casts multiple spells that night, causing both Lysander and Demetrius to turn their attentions from Hermia to Helena, while Titania falls in love with a man-turned-donkey (James Cagney). (It's a long story...)
Eventually, after much shenanigans, including Hermia and Helena almost coming to blows, Oberon relents and undoes his spells so all may live happily ever after...
Shakespeare's play was "arranged for the screen" by Mary C. McCall Jr. and Charles Kenyon, and it's an added bit of fun for the viewer when some of the famous sentences we all know are spoken, such as "The course of true love never did run smooth" and "What fools these mortals be." I'd add that the line "Ill met by moonlight" became the title of a 1957 World War II movie!
Our homeschool program emphasized Shakespeare for just this reason -- it's astounding how many phrases in common usage originated in his plays.
Most of the cast is excellent, though I wished Powell were a bit less goofy and Alexander a bit less bland. (It was ever thus with the tragically fated Alexander, who died in 1937.) Muir and de Havilland are perfection, and for me Anita Louise steals the movie as the ethereal Titania. Indeed, Titania and the fairies, who dance in marvelous floaty costumes by Max Ree, are the high point of the film.
Jory, like Hunter, is exceptionally eloquent in his line readings, though his heavy makeup and overbearing persona make him rather creepy.
Rooney is well cast, though I'd venture to say we see a bit too much of him given that his character is extremely...animated. Cagney is fine as the rough-hewn actor turned donkey, and then back again.
The rest of the cast includes Joe E. Brown, Grant Mitchell, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, and Helen Westcott.
Westcott, who costarred in THE GUNFIGHTER (1950), played the fairy named Cobweb as a child actress. Billy Barty is also recognizable as the fairy Mustard-Seed. Margaret Kerry, the model for Disney's fairy Tinkerbell in PETER PAN (1953) who recently passed away, was also a MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM fairy as a young child.
The most remarkable thing about this film is the sparkly, gorgeous black and white photography by Hal Mohr, which is the stuff of legend; he was the only write-in winner in Oscar history. The film also won Best Editing and was nominated for Best Picture and Assistant Director, a category which disappeared later in the decade.
The film has remarkable special effects, including flying fairies and the previously mentioned shimmering forest. Mohr achieved the sparkling effects he photographed with a variety of techniques including paint, hanging metal particles, glitter, and more, in essence doubling as a special effects artist as well as cinematographer.
My only real complaint is that the performance by the theatrical company at the end goes on far too long, after all the emotional stories have been wrapped up; that said, I assume the filmmakers wanted to be relatively faithful to the source material. (I don't have our copy of the play close at hand to compare!)
The lovely print is from a 1080p HD master from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, supplemented by "nitrate projection elements." I recall our DVD as looking fine, but I'm certain this Blu-ray is the best the movie will ever look. It's outstanding. Sound quality is solid.
Extras carried over from the original
DVD include a commentary track by Scott MacQueen; Olivia de Havilland's screen test; a vintage eight-minute featurette, A DREAM COMES TRUE (1935); the 20-minute musical short SHAKE MR. SHAKESPEARE (1936), directed by Roy Mack; a brief promo with Joe E. Brown and Pat O'Brien; the trailer and gallery of teaser trailers.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is a wonderful example of what was possible combining a classic play with the creativity of artists under the studio system. Recommended.
Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.
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