A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909 film)

A Midsummer Night's Dream
PLAY film; runtime 00:11:07
Directed by	Charles Kent J. Stuart Blackton (co-director)
Written by	Eugene Mullin (scenario)^[1] William Shakespeare (play)
Based on	A Midsummer Night's Dream 1600 play by William Shakespeare
Produced by	J. Stuart Blackton
Starring	Walter Ackerman Charles Chapman Dolores Costello Helene Costello
Distributed by	Vitagraph Studios
Release date	December 25, 1909 (1909-12-25)
Running time	1 reel
Country	United States
Language	Silent film

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1909 American film directed by Charles Kent and J. Stuart Blackton, and starring Walter Ackerman and Charles Chapman.^[2] It was the first film adaptation of the eponymous play by William Shakespeare.^{[citation needed]} The movie was made during summer 1909, but not released until December 25.^[3]

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Plot

The Duke of Athens decrees that Hermia (Rose Tapley) shall forsake Lysander (Maurice Costello) in favour of her father's choice, Demetrius (Walter Ackerman). The lovers elope into the woods, quickly followed by Demetrius and his love, Helena (Julia Swayne Gordon). The town tradesmen, meanwhile, rehearse a play in honour of the duke's betrothal to Hippolyta. Back in the forest, Titania, Queen of Fairies (Florence Turner), quarrels with Penelope (Clara Kimball Young), who avenges herself by sending Puck (Gladys Hulette) away with a magic herb, which, dabbed on the eyes of a sleeping person, shall make the "victim" fall in love with the first person to appear after awakening. Soon, Lysander and Demetrius are smitten with the wrong girls and Titania has fallen in love with Bottom, the egotistical leader of the tradesmen, whom Puck has turned into an ass (donkey). When Penelope discovers all this mischief, she lifts the spell and the wedding of the duke and Hippolyta can proceed.

Cast

Walter Ackerman as Demetrius^[2]
Dolores Costello as a fairy^[2]
Helene Costello as a fairy^[2]
Maurice Costello as Lysander^[2]
Rose Tapley as Hermia^[2]
Julia Swayne Gordon as Helena^[2]
Florence Turner as Titania^[1]
Clara Kimball Young as Penelope^[2]
Gladys Hulette as Puck^[2]
Elita Proctor Otis as Hippolyta^{[citation needed]}
William Humphrey^{[citation needed]}
William V. Ranous as Bottom^[2]
William Shea as Mechanical^[3]
Charles Chapman as Quince^[2]
Charles Kent as Theseus^[1]

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Buchanan 2009, pp. 130–131.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k BFI: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909) n.d.
^ ^a ^b Ball 1968, pp. 52–56.

Bibliography

Ball, Robert Hamilton (2013) [first published 1968]. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. Routledge Library Editions: Film and Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781134980987.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". Film Forever. British Film Institute. n.d. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
Buchanan, Judith (2009). Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521871990.

Further reading

Bennett, Carl (7 March 2011). "A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". Silent Era. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
Bennett, Carl (n.d.). "Silent Shakespeare: The Milestone Collection 2000 DVD edition". Silent Era. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
Chaudhuri, Sukanta (2017). A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Arden Shakespeare, third series. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 9781408142776.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". A Cinema History. June 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Grutchfield, Michael (11 April 2014). "A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". The Century Film Project. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909, Charles Kent)". Shakespeare in Performance: Film. Internet Shakespeare Editions. n.d. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Kaufman, J.B. (April 2016). "A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". jbkaufman.com. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Kramer, Fritzi (19 October 2014). "A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909): A Silent Film Review". Movies Silently. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Kramer, Fritzi (21 November 2016). "Fun Size Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)". Movies Silently. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
Lang, Fritz (24 August 2010). "1909 - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Charles Kent & J. Stuart Blackton". FilmAbInitio.blogspot.com. Retrieved 12 May 2018.

External links

v t e Films directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Feature films	The Life of Moses (1909) The Battle Cry of Peace (1915) Whom the Gods Destroy (1916) The Judgment House (1917) Womanhood, the Glory of the Nation (1917) Life's Greatest Problem (1918) The World for Sale (1918) The Common Cause (1919) My Husband's Other Wife (1920) Passers By (1920) The House of the Tolling Bell (1920) Respectable by Proxy (1920) Man and His Woman (1920) The Blood Barrier (1920) The Forbidden Valley (1920) The Glorious Adventure (1922) A Gipsy Cavalier (1922) The Virgin Queen (1923) On the Banks of the Wabash (1923) Between Friends (1924) Let Not Man Put Asunder (1924) The Beloved Brute (1924) The Clean Heart (1924) Behold This Woman (1924) The Happy Warrior (1925) The Redeeming Sin (1925) Tides of Passion (1925) Bride of the Storm (1926) Hell-Bent for Heaven (1926) The Gilded Highway (1926) The Passionate Quest (1926) The American (1927)
Short films	The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1898) The Enchanted Drawing (1900) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom (1905) Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) The Automobile Thieves (1906) The Haunted Hotel (1907) A Curious Dream (1907) Macbeth (1908) Romeo and Juliet (1908) Antony and Cleopatra (1908) Oliver Twist (1909) Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909) Les Misérables (1909) A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909)
Related	Vitagraph Studios Paula Blackton (wife) Marian Constance Blackton (daughter)

William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Characters

Lovers	Theseus and Hippolyta Oberon and Titania Hermia and Lysander Helena and Demetrius
Mechanicals	Nick Bottom Peter Quince Francis Flute Robin Starveling Tom Snout Snug
Others	Puck Egeus Philostrate

Productions

Film	1935 1959 1968 1999 2017
Television	1969 1981 1992 2016
Stage	1970

Adaptations

Film	A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909, silent) Wood Love (1925) Dream of a Summer Night (1983) Get Over It (2001) A Midsummer Night's Rave (2002) Midsummer Dream (2005) Were the World Mine (2008) 10ml Love (2012) Strange Magic (2015)
Literature	A Midsummer Tempest (1974) Lords and Ladies (1992) A Midsummer Night's Gene (1997) A Midsummer's Nightmare (1997) The Great Night (2011)
Music	A Midsummer Night's Dream (1842, Mendelssohn) "Wedding March" (1842, Mendelssohn) Three Shakespeare Songs (1951) Symphony No. 8 (1992, Henze) Il Sogno (2004)
Opera	The Fairy-Queen (1692) Pyramus and Thisbe (1745) Puck (1949) A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960, opera) The Enchanted Island (2011)
Stage	The Triumph of Beauty (1646, masque) St. John's Eve (1852, play) The Park (1983, play) The Donkey Show (1999, musical) The Dreaming (2001, musical) The Lovers (2022, musical)
Comics	The Sandman: Dream Country (1991) Auberon Faerie Titania
Art	Hermia and Lysander The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream Titania and Bottom
Ballet	A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962) The Dream (1964)
Television	"Fascination" (1994, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1994, ShakespeaRe-Told) A Midsummer's Nightmare (2017)

This page was last edited on 19 March 2024, at 18:15

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