Review of The Taming of the Shrew

It's hard to quarrel with this cheerful adaptation of Shakespeare's thorny play, because it sets out to do so little, and accomplishes pretty much exactly what it sets out to do. To a great extent it's a silent film in its dependence on gesture, staging, and expression. Great sets and (mostly) great costumes. Sure, there is a sound-track, including more than a few of Shakespeare's words, but the narrative depends on dialogue mostly for framing, punctuating, and moving forward the scenes. The part of Kate (Mary Pickford) is almost entirely limited to her silent-film vocabulary of flashing eyes, slow burns, and the classic knowing (or recognition) look—the one with the raised eyebrows, smirk, and slow nod of the head, up, down, and again. She does all this wonderfully. As Petruchio, Douglas Fairbanks recycles his swashbuckling forte, complete with piratical headband and earring, heroic gestures like standing with his legs widespread or throwing out his arms as if to embrace the world, and his shirts have no buttons (there is an unfortunate pair of shorts, alas, which no patterned hem can excuse). Also flashing eyes and almost constant laughter.

The play is abbreviated to fit into the one hour (six reel?) format, like an executive summary of the plot—but there is one more outrage, one that subverts Shakespeare's entire story. Just as Katherine is beginning to succumb to Petruchio's emotional deprogramming, she overhears his monologue about how he plans to control her. We see her "Aha! Now I've got you" look, and know she's on top of things. Sure enough, as she completes an abbreviated version of the "I am ashamed that women are so simple" speech, she gives her sister Bianca a broad wink. Yeah, right.