Product Details

• Actors: Joseph Cawthorn, Douglas Fairbanks
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Telavista
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2007
• Run Time: 66 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007TKOGY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,666 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Music Video Dist Release Date: 06/05/2007 Run time: 66 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Shakespeare Comedy still funny in our day, June 15, 2005

By 

Barbara (Burkowsky) Underwood (Tumut, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Taming of the Shrew (DVD)

This is a rather unusual and special old film, originally made in 1929 and restored with new music and some editing for a re-release in 1966, and which has now been digitally remastered for this DVD. The main thing to strike the general viewer as unusual or special is its blend of Shakespearian dialogue, medieval European setting and slapstick-style comedy, but once accustomed to the language, this farcical story is as fresh and funny as any contemporary comedy. Needless to say, the material of Shakespeare's best-known work is timeless, and "The Taming of the Shrew" is no exception. The story is about a rich merchant who wants to marry off his eldest daughter, Katherine, but no one will have her because of her bad temper and penchant for whip-cracking and throwing objects across the room. Then along comes Petruchio who happily embraces the challenge to tame this shrew, and does so by using reverse psychology and giving her a taste of her own medicine by deliberately irritating, humiliating and contradicting her at every turn. But will she weaken, or work out what he's doing and reverse the psychology? Anyone with a good sense of humour will find plenty of laughs such as Petruchio's loud chomping on an apple during the wedding ceremony to annoy Katherine and break her wild spirit, and one wonders how much of this approach might really work for such shrewish personalities!

The main characters of Katherine and Petruchio are masterfully portrayed by Hollywood's most popular couple of the 1920s: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, and "The Taming of the Shrew" was their first - and alas, last - picture they made together. Fairbanks grew up with Shakespeare and began his acting career in a Shakespearian play, but ended up doing comedies on Broadway before his famous decade of action/adventure films in the 1920s, playing characters like Zorro, Robin Hood and D'Artagnan. When the sound era began in 1929, Fairbanks was no doubt eager to do a Shakespeare play with the new medium of sound film. Although some audiences might not have liked the sudden change in characters for both of these big stars, I personally enjoyed seeing them in very different roles, especially Mary Pickford as the bad-tempered shrew which is in total contrast to her famous "America's Sweetheart" screen persona. Both of them give a powerful and memorable performance, and this new DVD edition has very good picture and sound quality. My only quibble is that the speech is a bit difficult to understand at times; perhaps a combination of the Shakespearian dialogue and the age of the recording, but not bad enough to lose the plot or miss any witty remarks in this timeless farce about shrews, marriage and the men who attempt to tame a shrew.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Legendary Debacle, June 2, 2009

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Taming of the Shrew (DVD)

Mary Pickford (1892-1979) and Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939) were among the greatest stars of the silent era. In 1929 they appeared on screen together in an early sound version of Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. The film was such a notable failure that it effectively ended their careers.

Although it has good production values and runs at a fast clip, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW really is a dreadful little film. Both stars are clearly uncomfortable with the material and, in spite of their love affair and marriage, they lack anything that might be described as on-screen chemistry. Pickford pouts; Fairbanks swaggers; and after sixty three minutes the credits roll and you feel greatly relieved.

The DVD release is adequate rather than pristine, but there are no bonuses of any kind--unless one counts brief biographies riddled with typographical errors. Best left to diehard fans and film historians.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare "light", November 29, 2009

By 

J. LaVoy "waspswatter" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Taming of the Shrew (DVD)

This is a fun movie. It's not a great movie, it's not a great rendition of the play, but none of that seems to matter because the mood is so light and playful. I've seen films made of Shakespeare's comedies that made me think the director had the wrong script and thought he was directing a tragedy. Have fun with this one.