• This is the great Max Reinhardt's only Hollywood film venture and, as such, is a precious gem.

    Here is a rare example of how being dated improves a film. Much in the way it helped Dreyer's "Vampyr," the distance of early cinematography endows "Midsummer Night's Dream" with an eerie, slightly alien aura, perfectly in keeping with an Arcadian fantasy-myth.

    Victor Jory is perfect as Oberon, and the visual effects are the stuff of - what else - dreams. Mickey Rooney's Puck is, however, over the top. Otherwise this "Midsummer Night's Dream" should have rated a 10.