FURTHER INCURSION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20541, 16 February 1935, Page 15

FURTHER INCURSION.

Hollywood’s missionary zeal in the propagation of culture would seem to be tireless. Having done its duty by Dickens and Galsworthy, reintroduced Jane Eyre, and promised Becky Sharp to an illiterate generation, it has now gone back to the fountain head and undertaken “ to give the world Shakespeare on the screen, presented in a manner that all will be able to appreciate and enjoy.” The opening film of the company will be “A Midsummer Nigh Vs Dream,” which Warner Brothers are planning to make as “ one of the greatest and most elaborate pictures of all time.” The music will be Mendelssohn’s; the dances will be arranged by Bronislava Nijinska; Nini Theilade, the nineteen-year-old Spanish-Javanese dancer of whom Pavlova said, “ This child is the future,” will be the First Fairy, and Max Reinhardt himself will be in charge of production. But just to make things safe, the Brothers Warner intend “ to A make screen history by giving Max Reinhardt the most brilliant cast of screen and stage personalities ever before grouped in the same motion picture.” James Cagney will appear as Bottom, Joe E. Brown as Flute, Donald Woods as Oberon, Frank M’Hugh as Snout, and Dick Powell, the crooner, as Lysander, presumably on the grounds that he has “by moonlight at her window sung.” Due tribute is paid to English culture by the choice of lan Hunter for Theseus, Duke of Athens, while Anita Louise Treacher is to improve on Shakespeare’s cast list with a character simply known as “ NinnyTomb.”

The Warner Brothers, with a nice deference, insist on describing “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream ” as “ the immortal classic by Shakespeare ” or “ this immortal fantasy.” Shakespeare himself simply regarded it as a comedy, and he may not prove to be so far out after all.