Learning on ScreenMidsummer Night’s Dream, A
- Synopsis
- Feature film version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Eliminating cinematic narrative and theatrical staging the film was harshly treated by the critics.
- Language
- English
- Country
- Great Britain
- Medium
- Film
- Technical information
- Colour / Sound
- Year of release
- 1968
- Duration
- 124 mins; 11,160 feet
Credits
- Director
- Peter Hall
- Producer
- Michael Birkett
- Cinematographer
- Peter Suschitzy
- Writer
- William Shakespeare
- Music
- Guy Woolfenden
- Costume
- Ann Curtis
- Art Direction
- John Bury
- Cast
Additional Details
- Production type
- Fiction Films
- Historical period
- 19th Century
- Plays
- Love’s Labour’s Lost; Midsummer Night’s Dream, A
- Subjects
- Drama; Shakespeare
- Keywords
- Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Notes
- General
- Peter Hall in an interview with Roger Manvell Shakespeare and the Film (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1971, repr. with additions 1979) states ‘I made the Dream in close shot not because of lack of money, or because it was likely to be shown on television. I wanted it close shot because this seems to me the only way to scrutinise coolly the marked ambiguity of the text, and the cinema can do this better than the theatre’.
Filmed at Compton Verney. - History
- The film went straight to television in the US (CBS, February 1969) and did not receive a general release. It was shown in primetime and commanded c25 million viewers. The Paley Centre for Media holds a copy of this broadcast (9 February 1969).
- Reviews
- Reviewed by Brenda Davies in Sight and Sound, March 1969 p.51 "...the result is ugly, charmless and almost devoid of either enchantment or humour". "Hall delivered perhaps the only.Shakespearean movie that would be more enjoyable if you watched it with your eyes shut" (Daniel Rosenthal, Shakespeare on Screen: London, Hamlyn, 2000).
Production Company
- Name
Filmways (UK)
- Name
Royal Shakespeare Company
- Web
- https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
- Address
- Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB
Archive
- Name
Paley Center for Media
- Web
- http://www.paleycenter.org/ External site opens in new window
- Phone
- (212) 621-6600
- Address
- 25 West 52 Street
New York
New York
110019
USA - Notes
- Formerly Museum of Television and Radio (MTR). The name changed in 2007.
Distributor (Hire)
- Name
BFI Film Bookings Unit
- bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
- Web
- http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi/help-faq/film-bookings External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 020 7957 8938 / 8935
- Address
- 21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN
Distributor (Sale)
- Name
Screen Archives Entertainment
- info@screenarchives.com
- Web
- http://www.screenarchives.com/ External site opens in new window
- Phone
- +1 540 635 2575
- Fax
- +1 540 635 1154
- Address
- P.O. Box 550
Linden, VA 22642-0550
USA
Online Retailer
- Name
amazon.com
- Web
- http://www.amazon.com External site opens in new window
Record Stats
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