A Midsummer Night's Dream

Plot synopsis:
The play consists of four interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.
The play opens with Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father Egeus' demand that she wed Demetrius, whom he has arranged for her to marry. Helena meanwhile pines unrequitedly for Demetrius. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus offers her another choice: lifelong chastity while worshipping the goddess Artemis as a nun.
Peter Quince and his fellow players Nick Bottom, Francis Flute, Robin Starveling, Tom Snout, and Snug plan to put on a play for the wedding of the Duke and the Queen, "the most lamentable comedy and most cruel death of Pyramus and Thisbe." Quince reads the names of characters and bestows them on the players. Nick Bottom, who is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and Pyramus at the same time. He would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles. Bottom is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged. Quince ends the meeting with "at the Duke's oak we meet."
In a parallel plot line, Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his "knight" or "henchman," since the child's mother was one of Titania's worshippers. Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience. He calls upon Robin "Puck" Goodfellow, his "shrewd and knavish sprite," to help him concoct a magical juice derived from a flower called "love-in-idleness," which turns from white to purple when struck by Cupid's arrow. When the concoction is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing he perceives. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower with the hope that he might make Titania fall in love with an animal of the forest and thereby shame her into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, "And ere I take this charm from off her sight,/As I can take it with another herb,/I'll make her render up her page to me."
Hermia and Lysander have escaped to the same forest in hopes of eloping. Helena, desperate to reclaim Demetrius's love, tells Demetrius about the plan and he follows them in hopes of killing Lysander. Helena continually makes advances towards Demetrius, promising to love him more than Hermia. However, he rebuffs her with cruel insults against her. Observing this, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having actually seen either before, and administers the juice to the sleeping Lysander. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep. Upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged. When Demetrius goes to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Upon waking up, he sees Helena. Now, both men are in pursuit of Helena. However, she is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. Hermia is at a loss to see why her lover has abandoned her, and accuses Helena of stealing Lysander away from her. The four quarrel with each other until Lysander and Demetrius become so enraged that they seek a place to duel to prove whose love for Helena is the greater. Oberon orders Puck to keep Lysander and Demetrius from catching up with one another and to remove the charm from Lysander so Lysander can return to love Hermia, while Demetrius continues to love Helena.
Meanwhile, Quince and his band of six labourers ("rude mechanicals," as they are described by Puck) have arranged to perform their play about Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding and venture into the forest, near Titania's bower, for their rehearsal. Bottom is spotted by Puck, who (taking his name to be another word for a jackass) transforms his head into that of a donkey. When Bottom returns for his next lines, the other workmen run screaming in terror: They claim that they are haunted, much to Bottom's confusion. Determined to await his friends, he begins to sing to himself. Titania, having received the love-potion, is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him. She lavishes him with the attention of her and her fairies, and while she is in this state of devotion, Oberon takes the changeling. Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania, orders Puck to remove the donkey's head from Bottom, and arranges everything so Helena, Hermia, Demetrius and Lysander will all believe they have been dreaming when they awaken. Puck distracts Lysander and Demetrius from fighting over Helena's love by mimicking their voices and leading them apart. Eventually, all four find themselves separately falling asleep in the glade. Once they fall asleep, Puck administers the love potion to Lysander again, claiming all will be well in the morning.
The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and, since Demetrius no longer loves Hermia, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After they exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man."
In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the six workmen perform Pyramus and Thisbe. The performers are so terrible playing their roles that the guests laugh as if it were meant to be a comedy, and everyone retires to bed. Afterwards, Oberon, Titania, Puck, and other fairies enter, and bless the house and its occupants with good fortune. After all the other characters leave, Puck "restores amends" and suggests that what the audience experienced might just be a dream.

Tags: romantic, fantasy

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The ideas and effects within this vision are brilliant, although the detail has undoubtedly diminished with the wear and tear of several decades.Best in the actors are Mickey Rooney as Puck, and Joe E Brown as Flute.
James Cagney is Bottom, Anita Louise is Titania, Victor Jory is Oberon, Olivia de Havilland and Dick Powell are amongst the lovers.
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.
Brown, Hugh Herbert, Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, and many others make this film a true Classic!.
James Cagney, Mickey Rooney & Dick Powell doing Shakespeare?
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.
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.
and, incidentally, it just goes to show the timelessness of the play itself.Some scenes today seem overlong, and I think someone should have toned down little Mickey Rooney a good bit, but all in all it's a triumph.
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.
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.
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.
I have always loved the work that Olivia de Havilland has produced, but there are a number of times in this film where she literally screams lines that call for a bit more subtlety.
Not a way in the world to tell that this was a low-budget fast production of one of the world's most charming plays.Tough guy James Cagney as Bottom, member of a crew of traveling Thespians,; Olivia De Haviland, co-star of Gone with the wind, as a beguiling a bewildered Hemria, stumbling abut in he woods in he dark of night...sparkle with fairy dust as Oberon and the Queen of the fairies fight over custody of a tiny fairy prince.Though he was not happy in the role, one could not tell that Mickey Rooney, as the unifying character PUCK, was anything but the rowdy sprite who caused the mischief to be performed, to his own running commentary.Had Will had such thngs as cameras, film and space, he could have wanted no better a production to result from his own Midsummer Night's Dream.
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.
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.
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.
James Cagney is amazing to watch -- he was making a lot of gangster films at the time and this show gives us a hint of what was coming later in his career (Yankee Doodle Dandy).
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.
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.
Warner Brothers presents a MaxReinhardft Production , William Shakespeare's A MID SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Directors Max Reinhardt & William Dietrele, Producers Henry Blanke, Hal B.
Brown, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, Victor Jory, Ian Hunter, Victor Jory, Verree Teasdale, Hobart Cavanaugh, Ross Alexander Olivia de Haviland,Jean Muir, Grant Mitchell, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, Dewey Robinson, Arthur Treacher, Anita Louise, Nini Theilade, Billy Barty, Sheiola Brown, Carol Ellis, Catherine Frey, Shep Houton, Angelo Rossito, Fred Sale, Helen Wescot.Because of the intense scrutiny of the movie camera and our great devotion even addiction to the motion picture, both as an entertainment and a genuine Art Form; we some times sell the film Actors a little short.
In listening to his answers to Cavett's insightful interrogatives, we discovered just how experienced a guy like him is in the Legitimate Theatre, not to mention his Film Work and experiences.In this 1935 Warner Brothers super Production of William Shakespeare's A MID SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, replete with Felix Mendelssohn's Original Score which includes the Overture and the Incidental Music.
There are quite a few free-lancers, as well as those on loan from other Studios; such as the young Mickey Rooney, courtesy of MGM.It was this film that gave a certain delight and pleasant surprise to the Depression Era Movie Goers in seeing the likes of James Cagney, Olivia DeHaviland, Dick Powell and even Hugh Herbert doing their interpretations of the Shakespearian Classics.
The dark forest, the foggy appearance of the night scenes and the super star studded, heavily twinkling blackness of the sky are among the most magnificent heirlooms of the film's legacy.As for its being a faithful adaptation of an Elizabethan Era play, it appears that it is quite a bit closer to the original than say that modern, updated production of "A MID SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" (1999), with Kevin Kline & Company .
The classic Hollywood version of William Shakespeare's most likable play stars James Cagney as Bottom and Mickey Rooney as Puck.
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 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.
His 1930s Los Angeles staging of William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM was such a popular success that Hollywood studios went wild to lure Reinhardt into adapting his production to the screen.
Strange to say, Warner Brothers--more at home with gangster movies, tough melodrama, and strident musicals--won the bid, and the result was this 1936 abomination.Now, I won't go so far as to say this version of Shakespeare's famous fairy tale will actually make you run screaming from the room, but I will say that by the time it ends you may wish you had.
Everything in this production is ingenious, especially the fantastic innovations of using Mendelssohn's music all the way, letting a child play Puck (Mickey Rooney, probably the best Puck ever,) the use of natural sequences with wild animals in between, the fantastic fantasies with the elves and their dances, the most convincing Titania ever (Anita Louise?
Let every citizen of Athiens give fitting welcome to our noble lord." Set in Athens, the story begins at welcoming committee gathering of the royal court where several characters are introduced: Hermia (Olivia De Havilland) loves Lysander (Dick Powell) but by the choice of her father (Grant Mitchell), is to marry Demetrius (Ross Alexander), who's loved by Helena (Jean Muir).
Brown), Peter Quince (Frank McHugh), Snout (Hugh Herbert), Snug (Dewey Robinson), Robin (Otis Harlan) and Prologue (Arthur Treacher), rehearsing the play "Pyramus and Thisbe." Oberon, King of the Fairies (Victor Jory - in black body suit) and Titania, Queen of the Fairies (Anita Louise - all dressed in white), supernatural creatures of the night, make their arrival while Puck (Mickey Rooney - bear chested in ruffled loin cloth and Satan's horns on his forehead), the mischievous devilish boy of the woods, under instructions by Oberon, stirs up trouble by sprinkling passion flower juice on the loving couples to have them falling in love with the wrong partners.
In "glorious black and white," the visuals are even more impressive, notably for the frequent use of dark photography for its imaginative ballet dance, presentation of hideous black elves and goblins, the spider web transformation to wedding veil and the return to Fairyland sequence adding much to its very haunting appeal.Of the many performers in stylish costumes, ranging from Cagney's donkey's head to the charm and beauty of DeHavilland, Louise and Muir, the one who stands apart from the others is young Mickey Rooney.
Granted, his hideous laugh and hoarse voice can be as trite and annoying as Hugh Herbert's constant giggles, but by the time Roone's Puck recites his exit speech as he faces the camera, it's apparent that A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is Rooney's show all the way.
As much as Warners' A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM renewed the appeal of Shakespeare on film, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, the one most deserving was the win for best cinematography.
Theseus, Duke of Athens is going to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons.Demetrius is engaged with Hermia, but she does not love him.Hermia loves Lysander.And Helena loves Demetrius.Death will face Hermia is she will not marry Demetrius, the suitor chosen by her father, thus says the Athenian law.Hermia and Lysander escape through a magical forest at night.In the forest there is the realm of Fairyland.Helena leads Demetrius into the forest.Oberon, king of the fairies is upset for his queen, Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to him for use as his knight or henchman.Oberon recruits the mischievous Puck to help him apply a magical juice from a flower called "love-in-idleness".It makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing seen upon awakening.Soon we see Titania falling for a man with the head of an ass.Also Lysander and Demetrius have great feelings for Helena and Hermia feels left out.A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) is directed by William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt.It's based on Shakespeare's play.It was written around 1594 to 1596.I just read it last week, just before they showed this movie yesterday (Sunday).I enjoyed the play as I enjoyed this movie.It is a true pleasure to watch the 15-year old Mickey Rooney as Puck.Rooney, who was born in 1920, made his first movie appearance in 1926 and is still in the pictures today.Nobody hasn't had a movie career that long!
It sure is fun to watch this invisible Puck aping the mortals.Ian Hunter does great work as Theseus.Same with Verree Teasdale, who plays Hippolyta.Dick Powell is terrific as Lysander.And so is Ross Alexander as Demetrius.Olivia de Havilland is marvelous as Hermia.Grant Mitchell is great as her father Egeus.Jean Muir is very good as Helena.James Cagney does great job as Bottom, the Weaver.Joe E.
Brown is magnificent as Flute, the Bellows-mender.Hugh Herbert does very good job as Snout, the Tinker.Victor Jory is brilliant as Oberon.Anita Louise is wonderful as Titania.You have to like Billy Barty playing the part of Mustard-Seed.This movie has a lot of fun moments, like when the wrong people keep falling in love with each other after Puck puts the love juice on wrong peoples' eyes.And Bottom with the head of an ass is quite humorous.People are afraid of him, and he wonders why.Then he starts to sing, and Titania notices him...A Midsummer Night's Dream is a magical experience..
If William Shakespeare had lived to see this movie in 1935, I think he would have said that Max Reinhardt had captured "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on film – just as he had imagined it when penning the play in the 16th century.
Shakespeare's comedy fable of romance, love, mythology and early stage life comes alive in this film with lavish sets, marvelous costumes, outstanding special effects and superb cinematography, direction, and editing.
Rooney was just 15 when the movie came out, and had been a child actor since age six – appearing in nearly 100 film shorts and pictures before this time.
Dick Powell plays Lysander, James Cagney is Bottom, Joe E.
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.
Victor Jory, as Oberon, is awful and bizarre to watch; the other lovers besides Haviland are terrible to point of hilarity; and most painfully, Mickey Rooney turns in what may be the single most irritating performance ever done by any actor in a major Shakespearean role.
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.
Watch this movie because it's Shakespeare and James Cagney.
Prior to the first time I was privileged to watch "A Midsummer Night's Dream," I had seen a few filmed versions of William Shakespeare's plays, but never could get into them as I knew I should have.
I think it's just as well that the movie was filmed in black and white, as it would seem a little too "real life" in color.Anyway, if you were like me, finding Shakespeare hard to understand and enjoy, you need to watch this movie.
OK, This movie is higher on special effects like--- gossamer images and Mendelssohn's incidental music-- than it is Shakespeare's actual script.
Yet, everyone who loves Shakespeare should see this version just because you might want to see Olivia de Havilland (as Hermia), Dick Powell (as Lysander), James Cagney (as Bottom the Weaver), Joe E.
In the Fairlyland cast, Victor Jory is Oberland , Anita Louise is Titania, and a 14-year-old Mickey Rooney is Puck.
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Shakespeare's play gets an all-star Hollywood treatment in this beautiful to look at film.
Brown, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, Ian Hunter and Olivia de Havilland among countless others.
Robinson) were assembled for this film--Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, Frank McHugh, Hugh Herbert, Joe E.
You have to view this 1935 Hollywood version of Midsummer Night's Dream in the same laid-back spirit that the Athenian court watches the mechanicals perform "Pyramus and Thisbe." Let yourself be tolerant of the errors (most glaring, Mickey Rooney's Puck), let yourself be amused by designers, performers and directors all trying too hard to be antic and magical, let yourself be interested in the inventive but no longer believable special effects, the cobwebs and fairy dust and the rest -- and you may find this "Dream" not only charming but heart-warming.
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).
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.
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.