Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) (1959)
Filed under: Animation, 1950s, Classical, Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Fantasy, Jiři Trnka, Jiří Trnka Studio, Puppetoons, Stop Motion, Studio kresleného a loutkového filmu, Válclav Trojan,
Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjg1YjU3ZWMtM2RmNi00MWZjLWE3ODEtMjNmMjE4OWY5MzFkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg
Directed by:Jiří Trnka
Animated by:Jiři Trnka
Music by:Válclav Trojan
Layouts by:Jiři Trnka
Backgrounds by:Jiři Trnka
Studio:Studio kresleného a loutkového filmu
Release date:25/09/1959
Running time:1 hr 15 min (clip: 8:21 min)
Color process:Traditional
Synopsis
Sen noci svatojánské directed by Jiří Trnka, is a Czech animated puppetry film based on Shakespeare’s famous comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The film was the last feature-length film directed by Trnka, but one of the most remarkable (Osmond).
In this segment, King Oberon takes revenge on Fairy Queen Titania after rejecting his advances. He makes Titania smell an enchanted flower in her sleep, so that when she wakes, she will fall in love with the first person she sees. Meanwhile, Oberon’s servant casts a spell on a weaver, transforming his head into a donkey’s, in hopes that Titania will fall in love with him as punishment.
The stylistic choices utilized in this film highlight the influence that classical and folk music and dance had on Trnka’s animation. The puppets in Sen noci svatojánské were made out of polymer and latex instead of the traditional wood (Vyroubalova). While their bodies were articulate, their faces, delicately carved with non-existent mouths, did not support much facial expression (Vyroubalova). As a result, Trnka’s puppets relied on movement and body stance in order to convey emotion (Giesen and Bendazzi, 44). Each scene was carefully choreographed like a dance (Vyroubalova), such as Titania’s balletic movement in the flower field, and synchronized to music specially composed by Válclav Trojan (Kovarova).
References:
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053261/. Accessed 19 July 2025.
Kovarova, Irena. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sen noci svatojankse).” Harvard Film Archive, 1 December 2018, https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/a-midsummer-nights-dream-2
Osmond, Andrew. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Czechoslovakia, 1959 – 75 minutes – Jiři Trnka [Stop Motion].” 100 Animated Feature Films, 1st ed., Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 108–109, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781839024450.0054.
Vyroubalova, Ema. “Sen noci svatojánské (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dir. Jiří Trnka, Czechoslovakia, 1959).” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Global Shakespeare, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99378-2_16-1.