A Midsummer Night's Dream (1975) by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle
Sunday, December 16, 1984, 7:00 pm
Two Fantasy Classics
Special Starting Time: 7:00 PM..
His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (1914), by L. Frank Baum, 65 min., silent. Rescheduled from last November’s calendar, this was the third and final feature made by the creator of the Wizard of Oz fantasy books. Filled with fantastic characters and a charming sense of wonderment, His Majesty… was considered lost until recent years.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1975) by Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, 117 min., starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, Hugh Herbert and Kenneth Anger. An outlandish blend of talents produced one of the most splendid Hollywood fantasy films of the 1930s. Shakespeare’s dialogue is filtered through accents ranging from Cagney’s Irish, Brown’s Brooklynese and de Havilland’s cultured British, yet they are woven together by the strength of Reinhardt’s visual style (especially striking since this was to be his only film) and sense of magical unreality. Featured is the young Anger in the role of the Changeling.