This version is not my favorite because I'm an English teacher who believes that this extremely low-key version is much too subtle to entertain students. Or me.
(But then again, the Zeffirelli version is so overblown and hyperactive, I don't think it's that great either. I think I'm going to have to stick with the American Conservatory Theater's commedia dell'arte performance as my favorite filmed version. I wish so much I could find a straight version of this play on film.)
My first quarrel is that Simon Chandler (Lucentio) delivers his lines so quickly in the play's opening scene that he's impossible to understand. And then there's John Cleese as Petruchio burying his face in his hands as he washes and mumbling as he splashes. It's very frustrating not to be able to understand what actors are saying and those are two of the times I noted that happening in this film.
I also didn't feel that the sets contributed to the film. They were spare -- although the set for the Minola's house was very beautiful -- but they were so...beige. And the costumes were so...beige. It was almost like seeing the play in sepia tones.
As far as showing the play in a classroom goes, I don't like the scene where Lucentio tries to cop a feel of Bianca's breast as he "translates Latin" for her. It seemed gratuitous, considering the plodding pace of the rest of the film. I know it's very brief, but I still found it irritating. It came out of nowhere - whoa! A hand! Trying to touch a boob! And then we're back to the snoozing.
All in all, this extremely Burrrrriddish version of Shrew shows how comedy has changed over the past 400 years -- in Shakespeare's day, I imagine there was a lot more joy, a bawdy romp. This version is so terribly, terribly dull, in my opinion. I don't think the performances are brilliant. I don't sense the magic.
(But then again, the Zeffirelli version is so overblown and hyperactive, I don't think it's that great either. I think I'm going to have to stick with the American Conservatory Theater's commedia dell'arte performance as my favorite filmed version. I wish so much I could find a straight version of this play on film.)
My first quarrel is that Simon Chandler (Lucentio) delivers his lines so quickly in the play's opening scene that he's impossible to understand. And then there's John Cleese as Petruchio burying his face in his hands as he washes and mumbling as he splashes. It's very frustrating not to be able to understand what actors are saying and those are two of the times I noted that happening in this film.
I also didn't feel that the sets contributed to the film. They were spare -- although the set for the Minola's house was very beautiful -- but they were so...beige. And the costumes were so...beige. It was almost like seeing the play in sepia tones.
As far as showing the play in a classroom goes, I don't like the scene where Lucentio tries to cop a feel of Bianca's breast as he "translates Latin" for her. It seemed gratuitous, considering the plodding pace of the rest of the film. I know it's very brief, but I still found it irritating. It came out of nowhere - whoa! A hand! Trying to touch a boob! And then we're back to the snoozing.
All in all, this extremely Burrrrriddish version of Shrew shows how comedy has changed over the past 400 years -- in Shakespeare's day, I imagine there was a lot more joy, a bawdy romp. This version is so terribly, terribly dull, in my opinion. I don't think the performances are brilliant. I don't sense the magic.