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.
Review of A Midsummer Night's Dream
