Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

paid in full Now remember this is a movie from 1967. A long time ago. But first and foremost it is a great play by Shakespear. Let's not forget that. And the film adaptation is very well done, the acting is superb. It is hard to think of a better way to have done this film.

HotToastyRag Richard Burton is amazing. He just is. There's no one else in the world who can speak Shakespeare and make me understand what he's actually saying. I took drama classes for five years, and I always coasted through the Shakespeare sections. It truly was a foreign language to me; no one could get through to me.No one besides Richard Burton. In The Taming of the Shrew, Burton plays a fortune-seeker intent on wooing and marrying an infamous rich manhater, played by his wife Elizabeth Taylor. The two bounce off each other beautifully, and both energy levels are intense, but whenever she spoke, I heard a foreign language. I'm not trying to dis her performance, but whatever she was saying, she wasn't saying it in a way that was clear to a non-Shakespeare speaker. When Burton spoke, he translated. It was incredible. I was able to follow the plot! I laughed at the jokes and listened to the dialogue.For those of you whose knowledge of Shakespeare doesn't extend past 10 Things I Hate About You (the fantastic modern retelling of The Taming of the Shrew), this movie is for you. If you actually like Shakespeare (more power to you) then you'll definitely want to watch this one. It's obvious Burton shares your love and understanding, and his passion is wonderful to watch on the screen.And, if you liked this movie, be sure to watch Richard Burton's version of Hamlet. It's truly incomparable.

GusF The play on which the film is based is certainly misogynistic but that it is to be expected as it was written in the 1590s. That said, I can't say that I found the physical sparring between Petruchio and Kate funny, though the verbal sparring was often hilarious. The most notable omission from the film is the Christopher Sly frame story, which is a shame as the henpecked drunk serves as a great contrast to Petruchio.An accomplished Shakespearean actor who had previously played Hamlet on Broadway, Richard Burton is excellent as Petruchio, putting his excellent voice and beautiful accent to great use. In stark contrast to her then husband, Liz Taylor had never performed Shakespeare before but she does very well with the material and, as always, they had great on screen and, in this case, particularly intense chemistry. Burton and Taylor were of course famous for two tempestuous marriages so perhaps they could relate to the characters more than other actors would have! The supporting cast is generally very strong, particularly Michael Hordern as Kate's father Baptista, Cyril Cusack as Grumio, Michael York as Lucentio (in his first major film appearance), Alfred Lynch as Tranio and Vernon Dobtcheff as the Pedant. On the negative side, Alan Webb and Victor Spinetti are very over the top as Gremio and Hortensio respectively but neither of them play a big role.The crux of the play is Kate's speech in the final scene in which she says "thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign" and the way in which it is interpreted consequently determines the message of the relevant adaptation. The most common interpretations are either that Petruchio has successfully tamed Kate or that she is deceiving him into thinking that he has done so. Liz Taylor's delivery of the speech suggests that Kate is being sincere. However, the fact that she runs away laughing immediately afterwards belies this so I assume that the message that the screenwriters were trying to convey was that a strong man can be controlled by an even stronger woman without him realising it.Overall, this is an outrageously fun and extremely good adaptation which is very well directed by Franco Zeffirelli in his film debut. However, it is on nowhere near the same level as his version of "Romeo and Juliet" released the following year. As in that film though, the sets, costumes and locations are fantastic.

ImLorna Hollywood's golden age produced many films that will never die and it could definitely include The Taming of the Shrew as one of its greatest. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, the famed Shakespeare enthusiast whose works include the successful later adaption of Romeo and Juliet in 1968, this film showcases his devout love of Shakespearean plays. Zeffirelli was clearly ahead of his game at the time, which can be shown through his use of some of the best resources Hollywood had to offer; including leading actress Elizabeth Taylor and Actor Richard Burton.The film boasts the use of prodigy Nino Rota's music which draws the audience into the atmosphere of the film and gets them hooked on the storyline. The set and costumes are immaculate; they truly lead the viewer to believe that it is set in the late 1500's. Attention-to-detail is impressively significant; fine details in the background, such as a labelled drunkard hanging in a cage over the street, are what intensify the film's quality greatly. There is one point in which Lucentio's accomplice talks directly to the camera about the situation and I found that this brought an interesting touch to the camera work; it almost felt as though I was part of the film! The script is also relatively similar to Shakespeare's original text and some memorable line's such Petruchio claiming "Will you, Nill you, I will Marry you" are none the less brought to life by Burton's macho voice. The fiery character of Katharina is also brilliantly portrayed through Taylor's acting, although some could argue that perhaps she should have toned down her make-up and overacting in a role such as this. The priest's obvious fear of Katharina is shown at the marriage ceremony; a fear which is only too common in the story! Humour is rarely used vocally in the film, but it seems as though Katharina's rages and reactions, as well as a personal comedic key point of Petruchio chuckling as well as engaging in a choking fit during the marriage ceremony, appear to be examples of the type of humour seen in the film. Compared to the original text, it could be said that the humour was quenched and replaced with a more modern quirky version.However, it is inevitable that one would notice that this film seems to focus overly on the characters of Katharina and Petruchio, even perhaps on the real life relationship of Taylor and Burton, as this was filmed during their first marriage. The couple lived their lives in the eyes of the media and I somewhat got the impression that Zeffirelli may have used this to his advantage in order to secure more popularity for his film. The power of Elizabeth Taylor as an actress is highlighted and despite that fact that her character is quite unattractive to the audience, I found that towards the end of the film, I had almost become a fanatic of her and was interested in viewing more of her work. The role of a young, unmarried girl is almost unrealistic for her as she was in her thirties when the film was released. The chemistry between Taylor and Burton positively enhances the impact of the film and it is undeniable that the pair are profoundly comfortable with each other, even though the storyline tells a different story. On the other hand, it is noticeable that other characters in the film were very much in the shadow of Katharina and Petruchio. The character of Bianca seems to have gotten much less attention in the film than I had expected, which I disagree with as she is the cause that led to Petruchio trying to woo Katharina.The film had flaws which were more substantial than the previous. Petruchio's mental abuse of Katharina after their marriage in the film was short of appalling. I found that, at times, I became quite uncomfortable during the film and would have preferred if Zeffirelli had perhaps sugar-coated some of Petruchio's harsh actions. Katharina's spirit is more so shown as broken, as opposed to her personality being tamed, which added an unwanted melancholy touch to the film. The duration of the film was likewise exhausting, as I perceived that my attention diminished at times.Over all, The Taming of the Shrew is an enjoyable film, but unfortunately it is not suited to modern audiences, as some aspects may disgruntle viewers, particularly feminists. At the time of its production, it was of remarkable quality, but in today's world it is somewhat timeworn. However, older audiences would definitely gain a thriller from watching the film and viewers of any age would kindly warm to the character of Katharina and even Elizabeth Taylor as an actress, as I believe that amongst Cleopatra, this film is doubtlessly one of the greatest showcases of her career.