A Midsummer Night's Dream Film Adaptations

There are a large number of film adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, but the first of all was A Midsummer Night's Dream . Directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton, this ground-breaking adaptation was released on an important date: Christmas Day.

However, one of the best known is A Midsummer Night's Dream , by Reinhardt and Dieterle. Reinhardt was one of the most significant and essential directors of the time. An exceptional admirer of the plays of the British writer, he constantly versioned the plays of Shakespeare and also made some silent films.

For his part, Dieterle was a filmmaker with a long career, and was chosen by the film company to help Reinhard: he had no experience or audio-visual knowledge.

A peculiarity of this play is the control of shadows to show terror or suspense as well as to portray the personality of the characters. This use of darkness saw in literary adaptations of previous years, as in Dracula (1931).

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Additionally, the directors used the opposition between light and dark to show the fight and the lack of love between Titania, dressed in white and shining with brilliance, and Oberon, in black. A detail in the hair of Oberon gives the spectator a clue to who wins the conflict: he has a crown. Furthermore, Oberon, played by Victor Joy, is on horseback because the actor was famous for making western movies. This detail fascinated the audience. Also notable is the music and choreography used to represent the enchanting world of the forest.

Much of the movie is scenes of mystic beings dancing in a ballet technique.

Although it was a glorious success in specialized critique and a notable step for the world of Shakespearean adaptations, it was not so much in public.

Many years later, Michael Hoffman directed A Midsummer Night's Dream . Although the play is centred and has echoes of Greek and Roman mythology, this film had references to the Victorian era. However, a fundamental factor of the adaptation, and one of the most distinguished characters, is Nick Bottom. This character is opposed to the weaver described in the play. He is more proud, he wants to be constantly the centre of attention, and even, something uncommon, he has a broken marriage. Regarding Puck, he is a grown man with a childish personality, something opposite of the Puck from the adaptation of Reinhardt and Dieterle.

Not only was the play of Shakespeare adapted in Britain, but Spanish directors also made significant films of Shakespearean adaptation. One of the most famous was Celestino Coronado, a very talented and creative man. With great homosexual sensibility and an independent spirit, he adapted A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1984. Like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) by Reinhardt and Dieterle, there are choreography and a lot of dancing. Regarding the characters, there is implicit homoeroticism and sensitive detail, despite each character ending in a heterosexual relationship at the end of the film.

Although directors, screenwriters and filmmakers not only adapted the play of the noted British writer for grown-ups, there are also adaptations by fundamental companies, such as Disney, for a very young audience. Some of the most prominent are Pocahontas, based on The Tempest, or The Lion King, based on Hamlet.

Regarding television adaptations, the vast majority are British, made by the well-known BBC. Peter Bowker wrote one of the most innovative. Although the narrative was naive, he wanted to redesign the play of Shakespeare for a modern and contemporary audience, based on recent references and scenes with exceptional emotional depth. To achieve the purpose, he developed characters never seen before, such as Theo or Polly, the parents of Hermia.