The Taming of the Shrew

A film adapted from Shakespeare's play. A rich merchant in Padua has two daughters. Suitors are queuing for the younger, Bianca, but the father has set a rule: the younger cannot marry before the elder. The trouble is the elder. Katherina is angry, sharp-tongued and bows to nobody; the town is wary of her. A man named Petruchio arrives. He is looking for a rich wife and accepts at once on hearing the situation. He wants her without having seen her. What follows is the struggle between them. Petruchio applies a method to wear her down: he gives her no food, no sleep, contradicts everything she says, and does it all cheerfully. The text reads as uncomfortable now and the film does not hide it; but Katherina's closing speech can be understood differently depending on how it is played on stage and to camera. Richard Burton plays Petruchio and Elizabeth Taylor plays Katherina. The two were married at the time and put their own money into the production. Franco Zeffirelli directed. The sets and costumes are taken from Italian painting of the period; the crowd scenes and street footage are the strongest thing in it. A showy choice for anyone who likes Shakespeare adaptations and period productions. For a viewer troubled by the sexual politics of the text, the film does not soften the subject.