January 18, 2010

The Taming of the Shrew



Data
Title: The Taming of the Shrew
Year: 1967
Length: 122 minutes
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Writers: Franco Zeffirelli, Suso Cecchi d'Amico & Paul Dehn, based on the play by William Shakespeare
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
Music: Nino Rota
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Costume Design

My reaction
Synopsis: an unpleasant woman is forced to marry an unpleasant man
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Terrible. Sorry, Shakespeare, this play sucks.
Story: Terrible. Why does a Shakespeare film have three screenwriters? About half the movie is what they left in of the play; the rest is new stuff, which rarely makes sense and never adds anything.
Characters: Terrible. Again, the play sucks, and the characters are its worst aspect. But a good adaptation could have at least interpreted the characters intelligently.
Dialog: Bad. As far as I can figure, the whole point of the play is to make bawdy puns, which is crap. Here, the puns are sometimes replaced by direct rudeness.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent. Even Nino Rota lets me down...
Subjective Rating: 2/10 (Terrible).
Objective Rating: 1.1/4 (Bad).

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