Warner Bros. spent such a lavish budget on their production of Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM that they went all out to market it to audiences not accustomed to viewing anything quite so literary, especially from the studio that featured mostly crime melodramas with stars like Cagney and Edward G. Robinson.
So they created a short movie that would acquaint movie-goers with cast members of the film talking briefly about their participation.
Among the cast members: JAMES CAGNEY, DICK POWELL, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, MICKEY ROONEY, ARTHUR TREACHER, VICTOR JORY, ANITA LOUISE and many other contract players.
There's a certain old-fashioned charm to this style of promoting a film and it's certainly interesting to see these actors talking about their roles and their high expectations for the film's success.
Apparently it worked. While not a great financial success, the film did win some critical approval and ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Warners did the same thing the following year with ANTHONY ADVERSE, again presenting a promotional feature that had the various actors/actresses talking about their roles in the film.
So they created a short movie that would acquaint movie-goers with cast members of the film talking briefly about their participation.
Among the cast members: JAMES CAGNEY, DICK POWELL, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, MICKEY ROONEY, ARTHUR TREACHER, VICTOR JORY, ANITA LOUISE and many other contract players.
There's a certain old-fashioned charm to this style of promoting a film and it's certainly interesting to see these actors talking about their roles and their high expectations for the film's success.
Apparently it worked. While not a great financial success, the film did win some critical approval and ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Warners did the same thing the following year with ANTHONY ADVERSE, again presenting a promotional feature that had the various actors/actresses talking about their roles in the film.