The first thing to be said about this version of the Dream play is how really mediocre the DVD transfer is--it is very much in need of restoration--jumpy, often dirty, and terribly faded; that said, perhaps the effort of restoration could be better alloted to something like Von Sternberg's Shanghai Gesture or the original Front Page--something more worthy.
It's amazing how much more dated this version of Shakespeare's romp is than the often stunning 1935 version with it's perfect Puck in Mickey Rooney and its lush dreamlike imagery. This version attempts to be far too 1960's "with-it" using hand-held cameras, jump cuts, mini-skirts, featuring children that look as if they were plucked from the cast of Hair.
The positives--and very positive: Seeing a very young Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, and Diana Rigg, all totally competent even then, interacting with a mostly able cast, and a script which clearly utilizes almost all of the dialogue. This is doubtlessly a more worthy effort than the ghastly, childish romp made in 1996 by Adrian Noble, but for my taste, the most recent version with Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Kevin Kline (as a perfect Bottom), and the early Warner version with Rooney and Cagney, while both lacking in some departments, are far more enjoyable; both capture a good deal of Shakespearean spirit good for any decade. My low rating is given partly because it's hard to watch, not because of the overall acting or content.
It's amazing how much more dated this version of Shakespeare's romp is than the often stunning 1935 version with it's perfect Puck in Mickey Rooney and its lush dreamlike imagery. This version attempts to be far too 1960's "with-it" using hand-held cameras, jump cuts, mini-skirts, featuring children that look as if they were plucked from the cast of Hair.
The positives--and very positive: Seeing a very young Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, and Diana Rigg, all totally competent even then, interacting with a mostly able cast, and a script which clearly utilizes almost all of the dialogue. This is doubtlessly a more worthy effort than the ghastly, childish romp made in 1996 by Adrian Noble, but for my taste, the most recent version with Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, and Kevin Kline (as a perfect Bottom), and the early Warner version with Rooney and Cagney, while both lacking in some departments, are far more enjoyable; both capture a good deal of Shakespearean spirit good for any decade. My low rating is given partly because it's hard to watch, not because of the overall acting or content.