E X T E N S I O N FILM VERSIONS Shakespeare s most important plays were made into1 silent films when the cinema started and later, with the introduction of sound, continued to be favourite films in Hollywood and London productions. After the Second World War, they became popular thanks to great actors like Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles and the many TV series produced between 1978 and 1985. In the late 1990s there was a commercial revival2 of Shakespeare s plays with spectacular editions, Mickey Rooney as Puck. international casts of film stars and innovative directors. In the first films of A Midsummer Night s Dream, Nick Bottom and the Fairies dominated, as in the 1935 edition directed by Max Reihardt. The cast included many famous film actors of the period like Mickey Rooney as Puck and Olivia de Havilland as Hermia; Mendelssohn s music accompanied the action and there were many ballet sequences for the Fairies. In 1968 Peter Hall directed the Royal Shakespeare Company; the film was based on the Shakespearian text almost completely and expressed the night s crazy emotional and sexual confusions very well. 1. made (make-made-made) into: transformed. The Royal Shakespeare Company directed by P. Hall. 2. revival: new production of a play. The Royal Shakespeare Company directed by A. Noble.