Evening star., 1935-09-29


any highly artistic product, like an all
star Shakespearean revival, usually
had to lure the public into its fold with
exceedingly modest tariffs.
Today the worm has whipped into
reverse. Anybody who desires may
collect a Carroll coupon around the
Broadway agencies, but only the gilt
edged shall attend the opening of
Shakespeare's first major movie pro-
duction, Midsummer Nights Dream"
That merry epic will have an Sill top
No such movie prices ever were heard
of before. And the Warner Bros.
who financed Max Reinhardt's produc-
tion of the fantasy, claim no such
movie ever before appeared.
Their claims have been authenti-
Gated by the scholarly and the con-
servative. In the first place, the OPEN
ing is to be sponsored by the English
Speaking Union, an organization noted
for its literate right-wing tastes. That
alone would guarantee its merit to
many, but there have been other
praises sung in the same vein From
Yale professors to Oshkosh kinder
earten teachers the Reinhardt reel has
met with unbounded praise after its
advance unreelings.
DR.. A. S. w. Rosenbach. the coun-
try's leading bibliophile and president
of the Shakespeare Association of
America, wrote to Will Hays after a
preview, declaring that the picture
deserves the support of all Shake
spearean enthusiasts
To me, it is the Midsummer nights
dream Of Shakespeare's imagination"
he said. 1T is produced in a manner
he would have liked to have seen it,
but which was impossible on the
Elizabethan stage, or in fact on the
stage of the modern theater"
This seems to answer in advance all
the wary speculations of scholars who
did not credit Hollywood with the in
telligence to create true masterpiece.
STUNNED by the prospect of the
masters whimsy interpreted in the
worldly manner of Mr.. James Cagney,
Mr.. Joe E. Brown. Mr.. Arthur
Teacher. Miss Olivia de Haviland and
other cinemactors who make the box
office go zoom, certain eSSayists implie
that if the Bard of Avon were alive
he would deny his manuscripts to
the moguls of celluloid and preserve
them only for presentation by such
artistic gentlemen as Mr.. Walter
Hampden and his fellow elocutionists.
Some sly suggestion also was made that
the flicker producers favor Shake
speare because he has been dead these
many years and cannot collect royal
ties. Such a situation is, they say.
highly pleasing to a commercial
lmpresario. who is enabled to buy a
flrst-rate name" for the screen credits
without laying $4,000 on the line every
week while a product is in prepara-
ton.
This latter accusation seems particu-
larly cruel and unfair, since it is we'll
known fact that at least one celluloid
tycoon, now retired, number of
years ago told his scouts to repair
to England pronto to find this fellow
Will Shakespeare and import him for
story conferences on proposed
edition of one Of his plays. Had not
Will. unfortunately. been beneath the
sod, the generous film manufacturer
doubtless would have paid him much
more than paltry beer money to come
to the Coast and sit pontifcally in
an office.
IT DOES not seem sporting to taunt
the Great Minds of filmdom for
scraping pennies. They are well
known for their willingness to waste a
half a million dollars in the interests
Of art or half-baked idea Neither
should they be flayed, without hear
ing. for attempting to invade the
realms of classic drama. Such attacks
may discourage all efforts of the
cinema to grow up and become digni-
fed, and send the research depart
ments back to looking for more
masterpieces entitled Down to Their
Last Yacht" or Love in a Bucket"