Customer Reviews

The Taming of the Shrew

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you love Shakespeare this one has to be in your collection. The DVD version is nothing spectacular (no extra anythings) but it will probably keep forever now that it has been digitized.....so forget about the next generation in your family not being able to view the crumbling magnetic tape from your VHS copy.

A classic for-the-ages Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton film from their peak period in 1967. Directed by *the* Zeffirelli, what more could you ask for. Oh.....you want a good score....this one is award winning.....Nino Rota. There is absolutely nothing lacking in this version.....you can enjoy it every time. It's one for kids to watch to see how much fun real Shakespeare can be. It's one for budding actresses to watch to see Taylor at her best. It's one for anyone studying the Bard in school to have under their belt. And it's one for all the rest of us to enjoy again and again.

No wonder Burton and Taylor married and divorced many times. The sexual tension between them in this film can be cut with a knife. Taylor plays Kate, the beautiful, fiery, feisty, mean-spirited, unloved eldest daughter of a wealthy man. She has a beautiful & kind sister who has a string of beaus, but... the eldest sister MUST marry first. Enter Burton as Petruchio. Loud, boisterous, dirty, obnoxious and SEXY! He plans to tame Kate, marry her and be a rich man on her dowry. The famous tongue in the tail speech is given on their first meeting, which sets the mood for lusty, sweaty, swarthy fighting. All the while, the sexual tension builds throughout. Many fights & torments ensue... with a beautiful ending that I will not spoil. If you like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton or just the great and powerful Bard, himself, this is a great movie, directed by the great Franco Zefferelli that is a must see! "There is no other beast on Earth so horrible as man..." (Katharina, Taming Of The Shrew)

This Shakespearean story is about the daughter of Baptista (Michael Hordern), Katarina (Elizabeth Taylor). Very unlike her younger, quiet and gentle sister Bianca (Natasha Pyne), Katarina is strong-willed and has a nasty temper. Many men want to woo the lovely Bianca, including a young scholar (Michael York), but Baptista is adamant that nobody will be wed with his Bianca until the older daughter, the shrew Katarina, is married. And there is only one man who is willing to marry her for her dowry, Petruchio (Richard Burton). When Petruchio and Katarina are wed (forcefully against Katarina's will), Petruchio proceeds to make his 'dear Kate' into a good wife, but is anyone capable of 'taming the shrew'?
A remarkable tale by the talented and famed writer, William Shakespear. And with a delightful cast of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who can resist liking it? Elizabeth Taylor practically shines in her role! Especially at the part in the end where she makes her strong speech. I was as quiet and attentive as all the guests at the wedding.
For anyone who likes Shakespeare, who likes Elizabeth Taylor, or Richard Burton, or for that matter, want to watch a good movie, watch "The Taming of the Shrew".

A rollicking feast for the eye, ear, and funny bone, Franco Zeffirelli's "The Taming of The Shrew" is a tour de force for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. This pared down version of William Shakespeare's play is a fit morsel for anyone suffering from a fear of the Bard. It's fast pace keeps things going and with a cast of well-known British stars the whole thing is served up to delectable visual perfection.
Richard Burton blends his fabled abilities as a Shakespearian genius with his star power to give us a ribald and loveable Petruchio. This is one of his crowning moments on the screen and we are lucky to have this record of Mr. Burton at his very best.
Elizabeth Taylor is a comic revelation in this, one of her jewels in her acting crown. At the time the film came out, many scoffed at the idea of a mere movie star taking on the challenges of Shakespeare. Miss Taylor rises to the challenge and shines as a stunning, sexy and very funny Kate, in fact she more than rises to the occasion, she shows her command of the medium of film and her understanding of comic timing. The wedding scene is a pure Zeffirelli invention. If you didn't know better you would swear that it was part of the play, it is so well done in faux Shakespeare. Elizabeth shines in this scene. In the final fifteen minutes when she delivers the famous "Lord and Master" speech she is triumphant as she submits to her man. At the same time we know that she is the one who holds all the cards and in the off stage end will rule the roost from now on, all the while letting poor Petruchio think he is king.
The chemistry of Burton and Taylor is pure dynamite that explodes in riotous color across Zeffirelli's Renaissance canvas. Highly recommended viewing, especially if you are new to Shakespeare. It's more fun than a barrel full of Burtons!

Burton and Taylor prove how wonderful Shakespeare can be in this totally magnificent film. While it is visually dazzling, magnificently costumed and set, it is in the language and its fantastic delivery that the strongest moments of this film reside. Some could say that Shakespeare is dated; but noone could say that in this awesome production. And Elizabeth Taylor's last major speech? Hang onto you hats---it is perfection

+++++

This movie is based on William Shakespeare's play, the romantic comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" (written circa 1590).

The movie and play only have five major characters:

(1) Baptista Monola (Michael Hordern): a rich gentleman of Padua. He insists that his elder daughter (a shrew or what we today call a "bitch") marry before his younger daughter does.
(2) Katharina (Elizabeth Taylor): his beautiful, elder daughter, "as brown as hue as hazel nuts," whose "only fault, and that is faults enough, is that she is intolerable curst and shrewd and forward." She is also called KATE.
(3) Bianca (Natasha Pyne, her movie debut): her younger sister, as modest and gentle as Kate is wild and unruly. She has a few suitors after her.
(4) Petruchio (Richard Burton): "a mad-brain rudesby" and a "swearing Jack," yet a gentleman of Verona, resolved to "tame" Kate. (It's this taming that makes the play and movie politically incorrect today.) He has two servants.
(5) Lucentio (Michael York, his movie debut): a young man, "a proper stripling an amorous," in love with Bianca. He has two servants.

To appreciate this movie fully, you must realize that Elizabeth Taylor and the late Richard Burton were ever-quarrelling lovers (just as Kate and Petruchio are) in real life in the 1960s with their on-again, off-again marriage. Thus, some say that these were the best movie roles of these two great actors.

These two lovers play out their own love affair in period costumes, and we're never allowed to forget that we're watching a movie with two famous stars (just as in the original play we are never allowed to forget that Kate and Petruchio are playing a part).

Director Franco Zeffirelli has cut some stuff found in the original play but to compensate, he provides more physical action thus making this comedy more accessible to the modern movie watcher. As well, he has left intact the boisterous vitality of the play and most of its poetry.

Despite its raucous energy, this movie is tame and non-controversial but still sexy with lots of broken crockery and high-spirited taming. There's no hint of the underlying cruelty that makes the play so controversial today.

This movie lacks intellectual bite but it's a flamboyant spectacle that makes few demands on the viewer. Since Shakespeare wanted to appeal to public taste, this movie probably comes closest to his own intention.

The speech uttered is brilliantly alive by all actors (especially by Burton and Taylor). Costumes are dazzling. The actual location shots add realism. The cinematography is beautiful. The background music adds to each scene.

The DVD itself is flawless in picture and sound quality. It has minimal extras.

BOTTOM LINE:

This is a worthy addition to the Bard's cinematic canon.

(1967; 2 hr; widescreen; 28 scenes)

+++++

Great rendition of the bards greatest comedy despite its politically incorrect theme.Burton and Taylor recreate their on again off again romance and the sreen just sizzles with their chemistry.Wonderful costumes and scenery.Unfortunately Zeferelli never quite repeated the success of this film.I recommend it as an intro to Shakespeare for high school students everywhere.

Surely, part of the point of making movies of Shakespeare's plays today is to make them accessible to a public who wouldn't ordinarily come into contact with his work. I think where movies like Kenneth Branagh's 'Hamlet' fail is in their unwavering and admirable (if somewhat confusing) adherence to the original script. Franco Zeffirelli's 1967 production, starring Richard Burton as the chauvanistic and gold-digging Petrucchio, and Elizabeth Taylor as the waspish, unstable Katharina, is the opposite - it's a sort of 'Shakespeare Lite' version of the Bard's oroginal play, and for the subject matter, this works better. 'Taming' is a farcical comedy about a shrewish, willful spinster, and the gold-digging once-wealthy nobleman who marries her for money, but comes to realise her worth as a wife.

Taylor and Burton are, as usual, wonderfully larger-than-life. Burton turns in a fine performance as Petrucchio, a devil-may-care fortune-hunter who decides to do whatever it takes to marry the wealthy Katharina. He is by turns bawdy, stern and comical, and his deep, sonorous voice and amazing screen presence save the character from becoming a hateful chauvanist - on the contrary, we find ourselves sympathising with Petrucchio at certain points in the film. Taylor, though her part is relatively small, gives a similar performance as Katharina, a manic, violent woman whose intelligence and fermininity eventually overcome her temper and win the favour of her husband. Like Petrucchio, the character of Katharina is, at least on paper, a nightmare of selfishness and bad-tempered outbursts, but it's Taylor's winning performance that gives her depth and sensitivity, and we end up rooting for her. The pair also display an excellent sense of comic timing, and scenes like their wedding, and Petrucchio's chasing Katharina, are lighthearted and enjoyable becuase of it.

The supporting cast are also strong, with an excellent performance by Cyril Cusack as Grumpio, Katharina's long-suffering father. Michael York's role is shorter than in the play but he does an admirable job of it nonetheless - dual identity being a favourite theme of Shakespeare's, in this production it's kept somewhat out of the spotlight, wisely, to allow Burton and Taylor to shine through.

As with all Zeffirelli's productions, 'Taming' is a visual feast - lush countryside vistas, complicated 16th-century Italian Villas and a succession of ever-more complicated costumes give the viewer the impression that we're watching a dancing rainbow. Zeffirelli's direction, as usual, is top-notch; in particular, the opening scenes where Katharina is raging behind closed doors is excellent.

The DVD-transition quality isn't as good as it should have been, but is still very good, and while the DVD won't win any awards for special features, it's still a worthwhile addition to your collection. A fun, lively romp through a relatively simple Shakespeare play, 'The Taming of the Shrew' is a must for Zeffirelli and Taylor fans, but is also a treat for anyone who enjoys intelligent comedy. Recommended.

From the begining of this movie, when you spot Elizabeth Taylor having the temper tantrum of a lifetime, you *know* this is going to be a good time.

I adored this movie!

Kate and Bianca are sisters. Their father has decreed that the younger sister, even tempered Bianca, may not marry until her elder sister walks down the aisle. Unfortunately, Kate (Liz Taylor) has the disposition of a rattlesnake and is given to fits of anger. Thus far, it has put off any suitors, and Bianca frets that she'll never be allowed to marry. Then Pertruchio (Richard Burton) comes into the picture - a rather mad gentleman who is looking for a woman with a large dowry - and he pursues Kate, much to Kate's chagrin. Eventually, he tricks her into marriage. The honeymoon angst beings soon thereafter.

Great acting, great sets, and beautiful costuming, The Taming Of The Shrew is a great time. I am very glad I bought this one. I'll be watching it over and over again, I can guarantee.

Happy viewing.

"The Taming of the Shrew" is a delightful romp, and very entertaining, even for people who do not normally go out of their way to watch Shakespeare. I can imagine serious scholars rolling their eyes at the liberties taken here, and the "star turns" by those two icons of 60s Hollywood, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

However, for most of us who basically just want to be entertained--and I suspect with this play, that was the bard's intent--this version is good fun, robustly acted, and with lovely sets and costumes, a feast for the eye. One suspects that Ms. Taylor had a ball, hurling insults and various pieces of furniture at her real-life, on-again off-again, spouse. It looks like Mr. Burton had a good time too, although one frequently has the impression that this was a "well-lubricated" performance !

The supporting cast is fine, with a pleasant film debut for Michael York. As usual, Zeffirelli gives us a film that is gorgeous to look at--and I'm not just referring to Ms. Taylor !
The DVD has a certain haziness to it, but this may be the way that Zeffirelli intended the film to look.

"The Taming of the Shrew" today, of course, is about as "politically incorrect" as a piece of literature can be. While women will find this film amusing, the idea that the female spirit should be "reined in" like that of a wild horse, will cause some discomfort to feminist viewers, I'm sure.

Nevertheless, this film is highly entertaining, and might give younger viewers an idea as to what all the Taylor/Burton fuss was about. Recommended.

A very sad footnote--one of cinema's greatest stars has left us. Ms. Elizabeth Taylor passed away on 23 March 2011. There is little for me to say after justifiably extensive media coverage, except that--in her case--even the word "star" seems inadequate.