Vickie Rozell

Director/Dramaturg, Author, Editor

In the early 1930s Max Reinhardt was the most famous theatrical director in the world. An Austrian citizen, he headed several theatres in Germany, and directed plays throughout Europe and in New York. One of his most produced plays was A Midsummer Night’s Dream; its first production in 1905 is credited with introducing a new era in theatre when he became the first director called to the stage for a curtain call. He directed the show 12 more times, including a west coast tour that played the Hollywood Bowl in 1934. That production was the basis of the 1935 Warner Brothers film he co-directed with William Dieterle upon which the play Shakespeare in Hollywood is based.

That Hollywood Bowl production was enormous. The bowl itself was removed from the stage, grass and trees planted, and a candlelight procession from the hill above the seats arranged. The Mendelssohn score for the play was performed live by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the seating area accommodated 12,000 people. It was a runaway hit. Jack Warner was persuaded to see it and was so impressed by the design elements that Warner Brothers signed Reinhardt to a three-picture deal. The first would be Dream itself, which they felt would bring prestige to a studio which was better known for less refined fare.

Reinhardt had directed four films in Germany and wanted to make his mark in American film. This would be the first Hollywood film of a Shakespeare play since Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford starred in The Taming of the Shrew in 1929.

There were only two holdovers from the Hollywood Bowl production to the movie, Mickey Rooney as Puck, and Olivia de Havilland as Hermia. In addition Reinhardt personally requested Jimmy Cagney for the role of Bottom; rubbery faced comic Joe E. Brown, veteran of several baseball movies, played Francis Flute, musical heart throb Dick Powell played Lysander (opposite de Havilland), and Victor Jory and Jean Muir played Oberon and Helena, respectively.

William Dieterle co-directed with his former mentor Reinhardt, with Dieterle concentrating on the filming and Reinhardt on the actors and visuals. To realize Reinhardt’s vision, the text was cut and rearranged extensively, and some of the visual elements from his stage productions, including a ballet that opened the forest sequence and one at the end featuring the abduction of the “first fairy,” dressed in white, by one of Oberon’s followers dressed in black, were included in the film.

During the filming, 14 year-old Rooney broke his leg in a toboggan accident and production nearly halted after three weeks because Reinhardt’s dark and moody forest could barely be photographed. Changes to both the scenery and the lighting had to be made in order for the film to continue.

When the movie was released it brought prestige but not the overwhelming response the studio hoped. It was acclaimed for its dance numbers, special effects, and dreamlike scenes but, despite the star power, was only a moderate box office success. It was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture, and won for Best Cinematography and Film Editing.

Reinhardt, who never made another film, never lost his love for the show, saying in the forward to the 1935 edition of the play, “When stark reality weighs too heavily upon us, an all-wise Providence provides deliverance…A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an invitation to escape reality, a place for the glorious release to be found in sheer fantasy.”

© Vickie Rozell, All Rights Reserved

Reproduction only with permission