In the early 1930s, to draw Depression era audiences, Hollywood studios tried to distinguish themselves from the others. They used shock value, outdoing each other with risqué content, violence, and other previously taboo subject matter. This “race to the bottom” created a daring genre of films made during the Pre-Code Era.
The downslide came to an end in July 1934 with the formation of the Production Code Administration (PCA) headed by a tough Irishman, Joseph I. Breen. During the Pre-Code Era, the studio which frustrated him the most was Warner Bros., whose claim to fame was gritty, violent gangster films.
Athenean lovers in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” (Warner Bros.)
Once the Breen era began, Warner Bros. wanted to prove that they had turned over a new leaf, so they mounted the most classical project possible, a Shakespeare play. The result was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from 1935. One of the finest Golden Era adaptations of classic literature, this movie perfectly captures the magic of summer….