Film

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Other titles called A Midsummer Night's Dream: the 1935 film, the 1968 film, the 1999 film, the 2016 film.

Adrian Noble's film adaptation of Shakespeare's dreamscape comedy finds magic in the woods and the space between waking and sleeping. A boy's dream contains tangled lovers, scheming fairies, and a troupe of clumsy actors—all colliding in one enchanted night. It's playful and intimate, funny without winking at the camera, and built on the belief that Shakespeare speaks directly to something real in us.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love Shakespeare's language played with a child's wide-eyed imagination, where the lovers' tangles and the rude mechanicals' rehearsal feel like a dream you half-remember and would rather not wake from.

Skip it if you need Shakespeare to feel modern or fast, since the verse is handled reverently and the pacing often lingers in its own theatrical rhythm.

What it asks of you: Roughly an hour and three-quarters, unhurried and dreamy, with the comedy and the wood-tangled romance drifting in and out of focus rather than snapping into sharp scenes.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Twelfth Night1996

Another Shakespeare comedy about mistaken identity and tangled desire, but sharper and faster. Trevor Nunn's film version is beautifully acted and has genuine romantic sting alongside the laughs.

But Some find the plot mechanics feel contrived, and the gender-disguise setup can read as dated without careful handling.

Twelfth Night poster

The Tempest2010

Julie Taymor's visually spectacular adaptation of Shakespeare's final play. Magic, shipwreck, colonialism, forgiveness—it has the same dreamlike quality and reaches for something beyond mere entertainment.

But Taymor's maximalist style with puppetry and CGI can overwhelm the language if you want words to breathe.

The Tempest poster

Much Ado About Nothing1993

Kenneth Branagh's film is a masterclass in Shakespeare comedy: witty, physically inventive, beautifully shot in a sun-drenched villa. The banter between Beatrice and Benedick is absolutely alive.

But Its cheerfulness and visual prettiness can feel slight if you're in the mood for something weightier.

Much Ado About Nothing poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Midsummer Night's Dream

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Secret of Kells2009

Both films trust in visual enchantment and the logic of dreams over narrative convenience. A child's wonder, or a child's dreaming, sits at the center of both.

An animated film about a boy who discovers a magical book in an ancient monastery, surrounded by forest and myth. Visually lush, hand-drawn, and structured like a dream—beauty as the actual plot.

But It's quieter and stranger than it appears from the premise. Some will find it slow; others will find it the only speed that matters.

The Secret of Kells poster
More like this (7)

Prospero's Books1991

Peter Greenaway's fever dream of The Tempest, told almost entirely in astonishing images and layered visuals. For anyone who loved the dreamlike structure of Noble's *Midsummer Night's Dream*.

But It's essentially experimental: the narrative dissolves into style. If you want clarity over atmosphere, this will frustrate you.

Prospero's Books poster

Enchanted April1991

A sun-soaked, gentle film about four women who rent a villa in Italy and find themselves transformed. Romantic without being saccharine, with genuine character depth and lovely performances.

But The pace is deliberately slow and meditative. It's a film that asks you to sink into mood rather than momentum.

Enchanted April poster

A Midsummer Night's Dream1935

Max Reinhardt's classic Hollywood take is visually sumptuous and captures the play's genuine wildness without apology. James Cagney as Bottom is a revelation.

But It's black and white, it's dated in pacing, and the fairy sequences can feel mannered compared to modern interpretations.

A Midsummer Night's Dream poster

The Night Circus

A recent miniseries adaptation of Erin Morgenstern's novel about two young magicians in competition within a magical circus. Atmospheric, romantic, beautifully designed.

But As an adaptation it has to compress and reshape the book significantly, which may disappoint those attached to the source material.

Corpse Bride2005

Tim Burton's stop-motion film has a similar structure: a young man tumbles from the waking world into another realm where nothing makes ordinary sense, but the logic is emotionally true.

But Burton's particular style—gothic, whimsical, visually dense—isn't for everyone, and the story is darker than the comedy lets on.

Corpse Bride poster

Pan's Labyrinth2006

Both place the viewer—and a young protagonist—in a liminal space where reality and enchantment are indistinguishable. But where Noble's film is comedy, del Toro's is tragedy.

Guillermo del Toro's film of a girl who encounters a faun in the woods during the Spanish Civil War. Magic and horror braided together, with real stakes and genuine sorrow running beneath the wonder.

But The violence is real and disturbing. This is not a family film, though it's about a child. The darkness is the point, not a flaw.

Pan's Labyrinth poster

The Third Man1949

Like *Midsummer Night's Dream*, it's fundamentally about how we mistake identity and desire. The woods of Athens become the shadows of Vienna. The boy's dream becomes a man's nightmare. Same engine, inverted register.

Carol Reed's post-war Vienna thriller about a pulp novelist searching for his friend in a divided city. Morally complex, visually stunning, endlessly rewatchable. One of cinema's best films.

But It's a thriller, not a comedy. It has no supernatural element. The connection is subtle, and if you go in expecting magic, you'll be wrong-footed.

The Third Man poster

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Recommended by

The Tempest, Love's Labour's Lost