AFI shows 1935 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream

Michael Kinghorn, Senior Dramaturg for Arena Stage, provided background on the 1935 movie A Midsummer Night's Dream and its directors, Max Reinhardt and William Dieterle, at the American Film Institute Silver Theatre and Cultural Center (AFI) in downtown Silver Spring on Monday, Sep. 29.

Broadway playwright Ken Ludwig, the author of Arena Stage's Shakespeare in Hollywood, could not attend the showing as originally scheduled due to a family emergency. AFI director Murray Horwitz introduced Kinghorn as the alternative Arena Stage representative.

Kinghorn explained that A Midsummer Night's Dream was banned in Germany because Reinhardt was Jewish and that it was Reinhardt's first and last Hollywood film, because Warner Brothers cancelled his contract for two other potential films.

Although it was a box-office failure, in 1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream was awarded Best Film Editing (Ralph Dawson) and Best Cinematography (Hal Mohr) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It was also nominated for Best Picture but lost to Mutiny on the Bounty.

Reinhardt and Dieterle's film was the inspiration for Ludwig's play, Shakespeare in Hollywood, directed by Kyle Donnelly and now playing at Arena Stage through October 19. To see a review of the show, go here.