I saw this film in streaming video from a print that looks as if it had been decaying in somebody's dank basement for the past 40 years. The color was washed out, lacking depth. But this Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company production, directed by Peter Hall, contains amazing performances by Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench (as Helena, Hermia and Queen Titania) when all three were young and beautiful but already capable of displaying the talent that subsequently carried them to fame. Ian Richardson as Oberon and Ian Holm as Puck are also outstanding, as is Paul Rogers as Nick Bottom, the weaver. Despite the poor quality of the film itself, you will surely wait a lifetime to see a version of Midsummer Night's Dream in which Helena and Hermia are dominant players, and you may never see a Titania as sexy as gorgeous or as outright sexy as Judi Dench. The entire play-within-a-play by the "rude mechanicals" is as good as any I've ever seen, and Rogers is marvelous as Bottom.
