THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1929)

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Tonight I went to the excellent UCLA series “Out of the Past: Film Preservation Today” to see the 1929 version of TAMING OF THE SHREW.  I was very curious to see this film for a variety of reasons.  Firstly because it is very rarely shown and secondly because it led to the ruin of stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and director Sam Taylor.  I kept wondering how a film could be so awful that it destroyed 3 careers!  I had to see it and find out why.  I went into the film with very low expectations.  I was ready for a train wreck.  Surprisingly, it didn’t pan out that way.  The film is actually not too bad.  At a running time of 63 minutes, it didn’t exactly stay faithful to the play, but in many ways that didn’t matter.  The UCLA preservation person spoke before the film and told us that only 20% of the film was actually taken from the play.  Apparently in 1929 they made a silent version of this as well since many theatres around the world were still not equipped for sound.  In 1966 someone decided to restore the film and re-release it to dovetail the upcoming Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton version.  In doing so in 1966, this person edited the film down, laid in new music and really bad sound effects.  What we saw was this 1966 version. At any rate, back to the film itself…..it’s actually NOT half bad.  Douglas Fairbanks really seems to be having fun with is character and is actually quite good.  Mary Pickford seems a bit ill at ease in certain aspects of the role, but overall she manages to hold her own.  Watching these 2 world famous silent film stars act for the first time together, their chemistry is clearly apparent.  At the time this film was made they were having problems in their marriage, but you seen any evidence of that in this film.  The direction is not too bad either.  The camera moves around quite a bit considering this is an early talkie.  They had a top notch A-list crew including cinematographer Hal Rosson and set designer William Cameron Menzies.  No, this film was not a disaster AT ALL, which made me wonder why it has such a bad reputation and why it has been blamed for the collapse of 3 careers.  In my opinion, I don’t blame the film….just the timing.  Pickford and Fairbanks were both having great career difficulties before this film was made.  Their images and popularity was so directly tied to silent cinema that when talkies began it was clear that the public was ready for new stars in what was essentially a new medium.  Buster Keaton, Clara Bow, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, and countless other talented stars met a similiar fate.  Ensuing decades have proven their talent to be timeless, but right then….right there…they were simply relics of the 20s.  They were sort of frozen in a certain era that the rest of the world was soon to leave behind for a new one.  I was honestly surprised to find THE TAMING OF THE SHREW was not at all what I was expecting.  I love it when I my expectations are overturned.  That is one of the things that makes movie-going interesting. http://www.filmradar.com/karies_blog/item/the_taming_of_the_shrew_1929/