A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935 film)

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A Midsummer Night's Dream
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Max Reinhardt William Dieterle
Screenplay by	Charles Kenyon Mary C. McCall Jr.
Based on	A Midsummer Night's Dream 1600 play by William Shakespeare
Produced by	Henry Blanke
Starring	James Cagney Joe E. Brown Dick Powell Jean Muir Victor Jory Verree Teasdale Hugh Herbert Anita Louise Frank McHugh Ross Alexander Ian Hunter Mickey Rooney Olivia de Havilland Hobart Cavanaugh Grant Mitchell
Cinematography	Hal Mohr
Edited by	Ralph Dawson
Music by	Felix Mendelssohn (re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
Production company	Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	October 30, 1935 (1935-10-30) (United States)
Running time	133 minutes 143 minutes (with Overture and Exit Music)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$981,000[1]
Box office	$1.2 million[1]

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1935 American film adaptation of the Shakespearean play of the same name. It is directed by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, produced by Warner Bros., and stars James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Olivia de Havilland (in her film debut), Jean Muir, Joe E. Brown, Dick Powell, Ross Alexander, Anita Louise, Victor Jory and Ian Hunter. The screenplay, written by Charles Kenyon and Mary C. McCall Jr., is adapted from Reinhardt's Hollywood Bowl production of the play from the previous year.^[2]

Felix Mendelssohn's music was extensively used, as re-orchestrated by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The ballet sequences featuring the fairies were choreographed by Ballets Russes veteran Bronislava Nijinska.

The film opened on October 30, 1935. It initially received mixed reviews and was a financial failure, but retrospective reviews have been far more positive, and it is considered one of the best film versions of Shakespeare's play.^[3]