Compared to other efforts to bring Shakespeare to the screen in the '30s, this film has aged remarkably well. This is chiefly due to the efforts of James Cagney and Joe E. Brown who are as fresh and funny today as they were 70 years ago. All scenes involving Bottom and crew, despite being cut, re-arranged and ad-libbed upon are hilarious is a broad sort of way.
The rest of the cast is, sadly, less inspired. Jean Muir as Helena and Victor Jory as Oberon deserve commendation; Olivia deHavilland, despite being artificial and mannered at times, brings a lot of life to Hermia. The rest are write-offs and Mickey Rooney delivers an agonizingly awful performance as Puck. When Puck brays more than Bottom does, you know something's wrong.
Reinhart's approach to Shakespeare is almost Victorian. A lot of time is spent on pageantry, ballet numbers and musical interludes not contemplated by the original play. Some of the lines are sung, not spoken, which creates a very bizarre effect indeed. All of this is quite distracting and many modern viewers will lose patience.
The rest of the cast is, sadly, less inspired. Jean Muir as Helena and Victor Jory as Oberon deserve commendation; Olivia deHavilland, despite being artificial and mannered at times, brings a lot of life to Hermia. The rest are write-offs and Mickey Rooney delivers an agonizingly awful performance as Puck. When Puck brays more than Bottom does, you know something's wrong.
Reinhart's approach to Shakespeare is almost Victorian. A lot of time is spent on pageantry, ballet numbers and musical interludes not contemplated by the original play. Some of the lines are sung, not spoken, which creates a very bizarre effect indeed. All of this is quite distracting and many modern viewers will lose patience.