Internet Shakespeare Editions

Shakespeare in Performance: Film

A Midsummer Night's Dream (1909, Charles Kent)

TitleA Midsummer Night's Dream
Year1909
Release LocationsUSA
DirectorCharles Kent
MediumBlack & white video
Length8 mins
LanguagesEnglish
Audiencegeneral public
Play ConnectionsA Midsummer Night's Dream (abridgment)

Description

One of the Vitagraph Shakespeare films that were made in Brooklyn at the dawn of the motion picture industry (see 640 for discussion). Although early American movie-making tended to be dominated more by movie than by theatrical people, Vitagraph did hire a man of the theatre, William V. Ranous, to supervise its Shakespeare films. In making this one, the director eschewed the mercury-vapour lamps of the studios in favor of going outdoors in search of realistic exterior locations

Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14

Cast Overview

TitaniaFlorence Turner
PuckGladys Hulette
LysanderMaurice Costello
DemetriusWalter Ackerman
HermiaRose Tapley
HelenaJulia Swayne Gordon
BottomWilliam Ranous
QuinceCharles Chapman
FairiesDolores and Costello
MechanicalWill Shea

Production Team and Crew Overview

DirectorCharles Kent

Company Overview

Producer Vitagraph

Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell