A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 film directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle.
It is, unsurprisingly, an adaptation of the play by William Shakespeare. In Shakespeare's version of ancient Athens, two young men, Demetrius and Lysander, are both in love with fair young Hermia. Hermia only has eyes for Lysander, but her father insists that she marry Demetrius. Demetrius for his part has his own admirer, the lovely Helena, but he is not interested in her at all. Lysander and Hermia elect to run off together, and escape into the woods, Demetrius chasing after them, Helena chasing after Demetrius.
Meanwhile, a group of humble workers, led by Peter Quince the carpenter and including Bottom the weaver, are rehearsing a performance of "Pyramus and Thisby", to be performed at the wedding festivities of Theseus, Duke of Athens, to the Amazon queen Hippolyta. The workers, who are enthusiastic about their drama but quite terrible as actors, go off into the woods to rehearse.
In the woods, Oberon the fairy king and Titania the fairy queen are arguing. Titania has acquired a cute little "changeling boy" as a companion, but Oberon wants the changeling boy for his own. In order to acquire the boy, Oberon has Puck, the fairy spirit and agent of chaos, use a love potion to make Titania fall in love with the first person she sees. He also has Puck use the love potion on the four Athenians who have snuck into the woods.
This film was an adaptation of Max Reinhardt's hit stage production. It was the first big cinematic Shakespeare adaption of the talking film age. The All-Star Cast included James Cagney as Bottom, Dick Powell as Lysander, and Ian Hunter as Theseus. Olivia de Havilland and Mickey Rooney reprised their roles from the play of Hermia and Puck, respectively; it was de Havilland's film debut. Billy Barty can be seen as the fairy Mustard-seed.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold rearranged the music that Felix Mendelssohn wrote for an 1842 production of the play, music that includes Mendelssohn's now-iconic "Wedding March".
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: The Mechanicals keep referring to Ninus's tomb as "Ninny's tomb", to Quince's increasing frustration.
- Bad "Bad Acting": The atrocious rude mechanicals and their awful performance of "Pyramus and Thisby".
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Ends with Puck's "If we shadows have offended" speech in which he looks at the camera, hopes everybody liked the show, and asks for applause.
- Catapult Nightmare: Hermia's nightmare of a serpent at her breast is sort of a slow-motion Catapult Nightmare in which she rises to a sitting position muttering her dialogue about the nightmare, before waking up and expressing relief.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Helena follow Demetrius into the woods all the way from Athens because she's that clingy.
- Door-Closes Ending: The film ends with Puck closing a door at Theseus's palace after giving his Breaking the Fourth Wall closing speech.
- Elopement: Hermia and Lysander attempt this but things get weird.
- Fake Shemp: Mickey Rooney had to be doubled by George Breakston in many scenes, as he broke his leg during filming.
- The Fair Folk: The most iconic representation of fairies as mischievous tricksters.
- Flying Broomstick: Puck improvises one by ripping a branch off a tree, putting the branch between his legs, and flying away.
- Forced Transformation: Puck's line about "sometimes a hound I'll be, hog, fire", is accompanied in the film by him changing into each of those things.
- Happily Adopted: The changeling boy (played by Sheila Brown, not Kenneth Anger as he often claimed) looks delighted to be adopted by Oberon at the end and is wearing a similar twig/cobweb crown (or antlers, we're never sure which).
- Horned Humanoid: This is one of many productions to give Puck the mischievous spirit horns. Oberon goes the extra mile and has a set of tangled antlers—and the changeling boy grows a matching set of tangled antlers after Oberon adopts him. There are many pre-Wiccan pagan references throughout the film, and Oberon's antlers or crown identify him as the Horned God.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: The opening title says "Warner Bros. presents a Max Reinhardt production."
- Intermission: A card in the middle of the film says "Intermission 10 Minutes."
- Intro Dump: Peter Quince rattles off the names of every other actor in the company, as he's assigning parts.
- It Amused Me: Puck's screwing up with the love potion. Sure it was a mistake but he's enjoying the results. "Then will two at once woo one. That must needs be sport alone. All these things do best please me, that which falls preposterously."
- Large Ham: It's almost guaranteed that the rude mechanicals will be portrayed this way when presenting "Pyramus and Thisby" to the nobles, and they do in this movie, with James Cagney really hamming it up as Bottom playing Pyramus.
- Lohengrin and Mendelssohn: The film uses a lot of Felix Mendelssohn's score, including the "Wedding March", heard in the opening and closing interludes, the scene where Titania takes Bottom to her bower, and the scene where all the mortals return to Theseus's palace in Athens.
- Love Potion: Oberon and Puck cause all sorts of havoc when dosing Lysander, Demetrius, and Titania with love potion.
- Malaproper: Bottom, who is the poster boy for this trope, saying, for example, 'odious' for 'odours' and 'Ninny's tomb' for 'Ninus' tomb' (Ninus was the legendary founder of Nineveh). Bottom goes onto say that the lion "deflowered my dear!" Instead of "devoured".
- Meadow Run: Titania and the changeling boy run to each other in the forest glade, coming together for a hug.
- MST: During Pyramus and Thisbe, the audience snarks about the play.
- MST3K Mantra: In-Universe, no less, as part of Puck's final soliloquy: "If the story offended you, remind yourself it was nothing but a dream."
- Painting the Medium: Most of the scenes in which the fairies interact with each other are shown through a gauzy, spangly filter. This was some genius design on the part of Max Reinhardt and veteran cinematographer Hal Mohr. Reinhardt, who was much more familiar with stage plays and had produced Midsummer Night's Dream on a grand scale at the Hollywood Bowl, had the production designer create a detailed, realistic forest. It was too dense to light properly, so the whole production closed down while they worked it out. Mohr asked for the side of the forest that would be in shadow to be spraypainted deep russet and brown, and the lighted side covered with aluminum paint and sprayed with rubber cement, making cobwebs that could be covered with "casket flitters", a type of glitter. Reinhardt loved it.
- Pair the Spares: Demetrius and Helena ending up together functions as this. Some productions will subvert this by implying that Demetrius did love Helena and the love juice just reawakened those feelings - turning them into the Beta Couple.
- Panthera Awesome: In the Show Within a Show, Thisbe is threatened by a lion.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Egeus orders Hermia to marry Demetrius instead of Lysander. It should be noted that Athenian Law dictated that a woman who disobeyed her father's will would be executed.
- Repeat After Me: A gag not found in Shakespeare has Quince get frustrated in Act III, when he tries to correct Flute's mispronunciation of "Ninius" as "Ninny."Quince: "Ninus's tomb," man, you must not speak that yet!
Flute:Ninus's tomb, man, you must not speak that yet! - Revealing Hug: Hipployta's scowls and frowns throughout the opening scene with Theseus reveal that she is not very content with getting married. She cheers up later.
- So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe, "Pyramus and Thisbe", which is supposed to be a tragedy, but is so terrible that it has the whole audience howling with laughter.
- Take a Third Option: Or rather a fourth. Instead of marrying Demetrius, being executed or taking the veil, Hermia elopes with Lysander.
- Taking the Veil: Offered to, and rejected by, Hermia.
- Title Drop: The title comes from Nick Bottom's conclusion that the whole play was All Just a Dream.
- The Trickster: Puck, the mischief-maker who messes with the mortals. In the film, Philostrate was going to suggest another play to Theseus, but Puck switches out the scrolls so that Bottom and the rude mechanicals get to play. This is a change from Shakespeare's story in which Theseus deliberately picks "Pyramus and Thisbe" from a list.
- Verbal Tic: Mickey Rooney's Puck has a high-pitched, giggling, squealing laugh that he does in every scene, sometimes after every line.
- The Voiceless: In Shakespeare's play the changeling boy is The Ghost as there's no indication he ever appears, and he's also What Happened to the Mouse? as Titania and Oberon seem to forget about him soon after their argument. In the movie the boy appears, although he doesn't have any lines. Titania shoos him away after she's drugged into loving Bottom, and Oberon is shown making the boy his companion.
- Weddings for Everyone: The climax is at Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding, where the weddings of Lysander and Hermia and Helena and Demetrius are announced too.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Despite being set in Ancient Greece, Theseus alludes to the fairies coming out when the clock strikes at midnight.
- Why Don't You Marry It?:Lysander: You have her father's love, Demetrius — let me have Hermia's. Do you marry him!
- Your Other Left: Bottom's dialogue about plunging his sword into "that left pap" (where his heart is), is accompanied by James Cagney miming a stab into his right side. After a moment he pauses, corrects himself, and mimes stabbing himself in the left chest.
