The Taming of the Shrew (1908)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writers:

D.W. Griffith (writer)
William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

10 November 1908 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Based on Shakespeare's play: Petruchio courts the bad-tempered Katharina, and tries to change her aggressive behavior.

Plot Keywords:

Sister | Father | Shakespeare's The Taming Of The Shrew | Courtship | Farce

Cast

Florence Lawrence	...	Katharina
Arthur V. Johnson	...	Petruchio
Linda Arvidson	...	Bianca
Harry Solter	...	Katharina's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles Avery	...	Music Teacher
William J. Butler
Gene Gauntier	...	Wedding Party
George Gebhardt	...	One of Bianca's Suitors
Guy Hedlund
Charles Inslee	...	One of Bianca's Suitors
Wilfred Lucas
Jeanie Macpherson	...	Wedding Party
Charles Moler
Mack Sennett	...	Petruchio's Servant

Runtime:

17 min (16 fps)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Coytesville, New Jersey, USA

Company:

American Mutoscope & Biograph

Movie Connections:

Version of "Shakespeare: The Animated Tales: The Taming of the Shrew (#2.2)" (1994)

Performances

This is an early Griffith effort -- when you're turning out eighty or ninety movies a year, you look everywhere for a story. A full reel, this was an immense production in Griffith's schedule and it shows. Although it is shot in simple long takes and the crowd scenes are staged well but not as amazingly so as later efforts would do, this has a full and beautiful set, in an era when set dressing was practically non-existent. The acting is broad in the comedy scenes, and more controlled in the romantic scenes. Notice the background actors gesticulating wildly in the kitchen scene (and the trademark 'AB'!) which looks looks a lot like Sennet's later Keystone style.

Although Griffith directed more than five hundred pictures, almost all of which survive, he has a vast corpus of works that are rarely seen, because so many people concentrate on his best features and perhaps a dozen of his best-known shorts. Kino is to be applauded for including this in their silent OTHELLO dvd and for hiring John Mirsalis to do the delightful, simple score.