The Worst Film Ever

So much average

People are voting emotionally.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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.

While not as memorable or iconic as his Romeo and Juliet (1968), Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967) is a delightful and vivid imagining of one of Shakespeare's most infamous plays.Like the 1968 R&J, Taming is set in Italy, but in terms of atmosphere, the two could not be more different. This production feels more earthy with its muddy streets and overdressed characters, unlike the later film, which feels romantic and almost ethereal. This approach works best for such a bawdy, vulgar comedy, filled with witty repartee, innuendo, and slapstick.Richard Burton is oafish, rambunctious, and a little sexy as Pertruchio, but it's Elizabeth Taylor who steals the whole film as the titular shrew. Despite never having been involved in a Shakespeare production on stage or in front of a camera, she delivers the verse well and gives Katherina an inner fire which never dies, even after she is supposedly "tamed" by Pertruchio. Her delivery of the controversial speech in the final scene is filled with irony. Though she seems to be extolling a wife's total subservience to her spouse, it's obvious she is only playacting for the public and her marriage will be more equal than Petruchio realizes.A good adaptation, especially for those who prefer traditionally staged Shakespeare to more modern re-imaginings.

The Taming of the Shrew (1967)Directed by: Franco Zeffirelli Comedy | Drama | Romance Richard Burton (Petruchio) | Elizabeth Taylor (Katharina) | Michael York (Lucentio) | Natasha Pyne (Bianca) 122 minutesFranco Zeffirelli's first film is lavishly produced from the fine clothes his characters don to the silver tableware Petruchio handles on entering Katharina's abode to ask for her hand in marriage. Costumes Design and Art Direction attained Academy nominations, although the film did not receive any. The score written by Nino Rota is characteristic of the the Late Middle Ages when the motion picture is set. Scenes from the original text are gathered around Padua, Italy, and surrounding countryside, which are pleasantly reflected as this project was recorded in Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy.This is William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" according to the introduction credits, in comparison to Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet". We are left wondering about the machine which is operating behind this movie as it has its star actors in Burton and Taylor and its fanciful title William Shakespeare's... but when reflecting on the original text you will be led to confusion; is this movie based on the induction or the latter part of the play? Shakespeare makes it perfectly clear which end we are receiving. If it is a mash in which Burton plays more to a Christopher Sly than a Petruchio, then it is not William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", it is Burton-Zeffirelli's...Ten minutes are spent in the initial taming. Petruchio takes off his sword, rolls up his sleeves and after some chasing, bantering, threats of physical violence, and swinging Katharina is silenced and hurt to a limp as she is dragged by her suitor to be paraded in front of her father and his guests. There is far more action in the motion picture than in the original text where the banter flows mentioning animals such as an ass, a turtle, a wasp, a crab, and domestic fowl, as well as flowers! (This film loves flowers.)Burton-Zeffirelli decided to cut the inductions found in the original Shakespeare text from the beginning of this feature film, although they included some reference to the induction. Early in the movie we receive the image of a religious drama on-stage playing to the drama within a drama concept. This is followed by a man in a wig and what seems to be a man dressed as a woman, the second man is carried off in a parade on a death bed, is this the boy dressed as the wife of Christopher Sly? And how does that relate to Petruchio who is presented as a drunk in this film. Maybe Burton only read the first few pages of the original text... Soon after we meet our hero, the drunk, Hortensio (Victor Spinetti) lays the plan of the marriage of Kate to Petruchio. After the conversation Petruchio is so drunk he is unable to undress for bed. The most striking reminder of the induction is the next morning where what is described in these lines occurs:Let one attend him with a silver basin Full of rosewater and bestrewed with flowers, Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper,Act I line 57-59 William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew)Burton plays a Petruchio who often chuckles to himself funnily and we are convinced by his taming of Katharina who is driven off to his country home for some more taming. Unfortunately this Shakespeare adaptation was undone by Elizabeth Taylor's Disney-style acting, she was unable to aspire to the standard presented by Burton, York, Pyne and most members of the acting unit involved in this Burton-Zeffirelli production.It is chilling how inapt Taylor's acting can be. She has two emotions throughout the entire movie. Her emotions which are expressed through her throwing things and not throwing things and her voice which is pure monotone and varies between angry and placid. Take the scene just as Petruchio arrives at Baptista's home for the first time. Taylor chases Pyne who screams in a multitude of ways while Taylor throws out her lines in her monophonic fashion.If she has only two emotions Taylor's face knows only two expressions of wide-eyed and squint-eyed. If it were called Burton-Zeffirelli's "The Squinting of the Shrew" it would delve a fitter example of the quality of acting presented to the amateur and Shakespearean audience alike. When Taylor first appears on screen peeking out from between the shutters of her father's house she exhibits this wide-eyed to squint- eyed and vice versa look. Every time she appears she maintains the on-screen presence of a spoiled 2D Disney princess. Over-acting might be the term to insert here or over-compensating for not being an actual Shakespearean actor. However Taylor did win two Oscars during her lifetime for Best Actress at the Academy Awards. Who are we to judge?

Film Review: The Taming of the Shrew (1967)My film review is on the 1967 version of The Taming of the Shrew directed by Franco Zeffirelli. It is a film based on the very popular novel by William Shakespeare. The story is set in the Italian city of Padua and is about a father who wants to wed off his older, vicious, wild daughter before anyone can marry his younger, sweeter and prettier daughter. It is quite a humorous film and I think Zeffirelli picked the cast very well and they suited their characters. Elizabeth Taylor who plays Katharina plays her character very well; at the start of the film she is a loud, scary, violent person who acts crazy. She fights with her sister and father constantly and refuses to get married, she has wild black hair and very colourful clothes and she is very strong, independent character. However at the end of the film she is completely different after being "tamed". She is quiet and respectful to her husband. She agrees to whatever he has to say and does what he tells her to do. Her hair is pulled back off her face and neat. Bianca, Katharina's sister is played by Natasha Pyne is a completely different character to Katharina. She is quiet and polite. Bianca is smaller, prettier and sweeter than Katharina. You can really tell the difference in the two of them in the film even by what they are wearing. Bianca wears pale, pretty dresses and has her hair always done nicely, whereas Katharina wears colourful crazy dresses and her hair is always messy until she met Petruchio. The costumes in The Taming of The Shrew are very colourful and old fashioned. They wear long, puffy, colourful dresses like what they wore in the 1600's. The men then wore massive woolly jackets and tight trousers. Both men and woman also wore big head pieces. Men wore hats and sometimes a few feathers on it and woman wore very expensive looking head pieces especially to occasions like weddings which we see a lot of in The Taming of The Shrew. The setting of the film is also old style; they live in massive old castles. In the scene when Petruchio chases Katharina we see a lot of the house and the barn or storage area, there was onions hanging all around it from the ceiling, big blocks of cheese and a massive area for storing sheep's wool which shows how well off Katharina's family were to have so much sheep wool which would have been very expensive back then. I think The Taming of The Shrew is quiet a humorous film. There are some funny parts throughout it like when Petruchio is at Katharina's house ringing the door bell and Katharina gets so frustrated that she pulls the doorbell off and breaks it and slams the door in Petruchio's face. This scene shows how angry Katharina is and how violent she is but is also witty. Another funny scene is at the very end when Petruchio sends his servant to command Katharina to come into him. As the servant is walking out the door he blesses himself because he thinks Katharina is going to attack him for telling her what to do and feels like he won't make it out alive. I think one of the main scenes in The Taming of The Shrew is when Petruchio and Katharine are heading back to Padua to Katharine's father and Petruchio tells her that the sun is the moon and she agrees with him he then says that it is the sun and she agrees with him again. She is completely controlled by Petruchio and is now "tamed". She would never disobey him like she would before they got married, she is completely different person. Another major scene in this film where it shows Katharine completely different is at the very end when each man calls in their wives to the ball room, none of their wives would come out to them apart from Katharine. Who was the last person everyone thought would come out. This also shows how much Petruchio controls her. I really liked this film. I thought it was really interesting and funny at parts. Franco Zeffierlli also directed the 1968 version of "Romeo and Juliet" and I much prefer his version of "The Taming of The Shrew". I think I might like it better because I feel there are so many different versions of "Romeo and Juliet" and I've studied it so many times whereas this was my first time studying "The Taming of the Shrew" so it was all new to me. I also loved the costumes and the characters in this film, especially Katharina.