This is not a faultless masterpiece, but neither is it as bad as some of the posters on here claim. It is most certainly uneven: there are dance sequences that go on too long and other things that do not work. But there is also a great deal that is quite simply remarkable.
First is Cagney's performance as Bottom. No, he doesn't sound English. But yes, he delivers his lines very well. More than that, he truly makes a human being, and an at times very moving and complex one, out of what was probably meant to be a mere buffoon. You feel for him when he awakens in the forest and recalls that he had been an ass. You laugh at but also with him when he becomes thoroughly wrapped up in the terrible play his company performs. And, of course, being the superlative dancer that he was, he has the agility to do whatever he wants.
Some of the other good performances are also among the players. Joe E. Brown is very funny as Flute, Frank McHugh is remarkably good as Quince. Hugh Herbert, on the other hand, is very aggravating as Snout.
There are other good surprises. Grant Mitchell is very good as Hermia's father.
And then there are the good things that don't come as a surprise.
Ian Hunter recites the lines like a true Shakespearean. It's a shame his part, Theseus, is so small. He's a pleasure to listen to.
There are other things to recommend this movie as well.
The sets for Athens and the Duke's court are really very beautiful, and sometimes very imaginative. 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. The same can be said of the costumes of the court.
And there is also the ingenuity of Max Reinhardt's staging. Some of it falls flat, yes. But some of it is remarkably imaginative and, for me at least, a great pleasure.
Many of the previous posters remarked on Mickey Rooney's Puck. Puck is supposed to be aggravating, half-human and half-animal, and Rooney is very good at being that. He really looks like a "wild boy," nothing like he appears in his other movies. 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. Some of the characters - the four lovers - are really uninteresting, and there really is no forward momentum to it. On the other hand, there is some astoundingly beautiful poetry in the play, passages as beautiful as any in the English language. These are delivered in the movie in all their beauty, admittedly most often by Ian Hunter and Victor Jory.
Reinhardt was also intent on using a lot of Mendelsohn's incidental music. While much of that music is very beautiful, some of it really slows the play down, and Reinhardt's ingenuity is not always up to holding our visual attention as well as Mendelsohn does with our aural attention.
So, an uneven but often fascinating movie. No one, with the exception of Hugh Herbert, embarrasses himself, and many of the performers are very good, some surprisingly so given the other roles they played in movies. Reinhardt's imagination is sometimes if not always very rewarding.
If you don't like Shakespeare, I don't know if this play will change your mind. If you do love it, you may be aggravated by some of what is done with it here, but you should be delighted with other parts. Not a perfect movie, by any means, and one that could have used some trimming. But still, a wonderful movie that merits viewing.
First is Cagney's performance as Bottom. No, he doesn't sound English. But yes, he delivers his lines very well. More than that, he truly makes a human being, and an at times very moving and complex one, out of what was probably meant to be a mere buffoon. You feel for him when he awakens in the forest and recalls that he had been an ass. You laugh at but also with him when he becomes thoroughly wrapped up in the terrible play his company performs. And, of course, being the superlative dancer that he was, he has the agility to do whatever he wants.
Some of the other good performances are also among the players. Joe E. Brown is very funny as Flute, Frank McHugh is remarkably good as Quince. Hugh Herbert, on the other hand, is very aggravating as Snout.
There are other good surprises. Grant Mitchell is very good as Hermia's father.
And then there are the good things that don't come as a surprise.
Ian Hunter recites the lines like a true Shakespearean. It's a shame his part, Theseus, is so small. He's a pleasure to listen to.
There are other things to recommend this movie as well.
The sets for Athens and the Duke's court are really very beautiful, and sometimes very imaginative. 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. The same can be said of the costumes of the court.
And there is also the ingenuity of Max Reinhardt's staging. Some of it falls flat, yes. But some of it is remarkably imaginative and, for me at least, a great pleasure.
Many of the previous posters remarked on Mickey Rooney's Puck. Puck is supposed to be aggravating, half-human and half-animal, and Rooney is very good at being that. He really looks like a "wild boy," nothing like he appears in his other movies. 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. Some of the characters - the four lovers - are really uninteresting, and there really is no forward momentum to it. On the other hand, there is some astoundingly beautiful poetry in the play, passages as beautiful as any in the English language. These are delivered in the movie in all their beauty, admittedly most often by Ian Hunter and Victor Jory.
Reinhardt was also intent on using a lot of Mendelsohn's incidental music. While much of that music is very beautiful, some of it really slows the play down, and Reinhardt's ingenuity is not always up to holding our visual attention as well as Mendelsohn does with our aural attention.
So, an uneven but often fascinating movie. No one, with the exception of Hugh Herbert, embarrasses himself, and many of the performers are very good, some surprisingly so given the other roles they played in movies. Reinhardt's imagination is sometimes if not always very rewarding.
If you don't like Shakespeare, I don't know if this play will change your mind. If you do love it, you may be aggravated by some of what is done with it here, but you should be delighted with other parts. Not a perfect movie, by any means, and one that could have used some trimming. But still, a wonderful movie that merits viewing.