A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Movie Reviews of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Movie Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a DVD version of an excellent film made by the Royal Shakespeare Company, in Stratford, England, in 1968. I am delighted to have it for use in my 8th grade honors literature class, as it is superior to most modern versions of Shakespeare's play that I have seen. The Kevin Kline version, for example, is inappropriate for my use in an 8th grade classroom, although it would probably be fine for high school students.Movie Review: As I remembered it.
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this film in the '60s and was glad to have it again. Excellent DVD.Movie Review: Four Stars for the Stars
Summary: 4 Stars
I had this film on video and the transfer was horrible.
Yes, the dialogue is read faster than the cast of the original horror flick THE THING could've done it, the green makeup of the fairies comes and goes like sunscreen...but this film is worth seeing for the cast alone.
Diana Rigg is as sexy as she ever was as Mrs. Emma Peel from "The Avengers" or Mrs. James Bond in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE.
Judi Dench, who would become 007's boss "M" in the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, runs around in green paint and pasties. If the crew of the Enterprise had beamed down into this production, Captain Kirk would've added another hot green chick to his list of conquests (alongside Yvonne Craig).
David Warner, an actor whose career goes from THE OMEN to TIME BANDITS to TRON to TITANIC, plays one of the "human" leads.
Helen Mirren looks like she just got out of high school--so young and fresh and pretty! She would go on to many sexy roles. One of the weirdest ones was THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER.
And Ian Holm, perhaps best remembered as the milk-sweating android from the original ALIEN, plays a hyper, twitching fairy. He was also great in THE SWEET HEREAFTER and in the Mel Gibson version of HAMLET.
Any one of these actors would've been worth watching in a Shakespearean production...but to have them all?
Definitely worth watching.
Movie Review: Sentimental value and a look back
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw this film in 16mm format when I was taking Shakespeare in college in 1980. I liked it so much that every year after I would find out when the class was showing it just to go see it. The film's image onscreen was always rich, lush, and filled with color. At the time aside from Diana Rigg and a couple of others, I didn't know who many of the actors were. Now, looking back 27 years later after many of them like Judy Dench and Helen Mirren have had such distinguished careers, it is really amazing to look back on it now and see them when they were so young etc.
The reason I bought the dvd was because it's the only way I can go back and see it now. Having seen a real film print in excellent condition, I can verify that unfortunately as one other reviewer said, the print is washed out and the colors faded, and while the overall image is clean, the film's imperfections are apparent. The whole thing could benefit from a better print and digital remastering. If you're just looking for a film version of this play, then you may be better off with more recent releases. However if you can get past the imperfections and have a keen interest, then it's a great way to look back in time at many of these fine British actors.
Movie Review: Shakespeare in a Nehru jacket?
Summary: 4 Stars
Allowing for the albeit distracting 1968-isms (i.e. leather mini skirts and Beatles-style haircuts) this is a first rate version of Shakespeare's magical play. Featuring a cast of amazing stars including Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg as Hermia and Helena, Judy Dench (quite scantily clad) as Titania, the velvet-voiced Ian Richardson as Oberon and the impish Iam Holm as Puck, this version successfully portrays the combination of humor, magic and the absurdities of young love ("Lord, what fools these mortals be!") inherent in Shakespeare's play. The high-speed camera work and overabundance of green face paint can be a bit distracting, but the brilliance of Bottom and the "rude mechanicals", the careful balancing of the magical and the real and the faithful and articulate delivery of Shakespeare's gorgeous language more than compensate for any eccentricities of film-craft. Listening to Oberon's beautiful soliloquies ("I know a bank where the wild thyme blows...") delivered with such beauty and grace by Ian Richardson is worth the price of admission all by itself! Give Peter Hall's MND a try!