In our grand survey of Shakespearean plays, so far we’ve studied Shakespeare’s background, sonnets, Julius Caesar, Henry V, madnesses of Richard III and Hamlet, and the similarities of As You Like It and Twelfth Night.
After a Shakespearean interlude at the dentist, Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter had so infused my thoughts, that my latest Homeschool Mother’s Weekly Journal featured The Bard.
Our next play to survey was The Taming of the Shrew, which we began by annotating key literary details in our personal copies.
After exploring literary elements, we watched a few movie versions from different eras in history.
16th CENTURY TAMING OF THE SHREW
First, we watched the 1967 movie production starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
This production which closely follows the play in setting of the 16th century, allowed us to easily follow along in our texts.
Now that we were familiar with the basic play, we watched modern remakes, where many various elements are changed while keeping the overall theme of the story.
1953 KISS ME KATE
Thus, our next movie to watch (on different evenings), was the 1953 movie Kiss Me Kate, starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson.
This Cole Porter musical has a double plot in which a divorced couple from 1953, who sing and act for a living, get a new gig to star as Kate and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew.
That is, if their tempers against each other can ever be tamed to let the show go on.
1850 SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a 1954 movie starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel (from Kiss me Kate).
Soon after meeting Adam in the lonely territory of Oregon, Millie marries him that afternoon while her heart is taken away to a new life of love in the mountains, far away from the tiny dusty town where she labored to cook and clean to earn a living.
Arriving at her new mansion pig sty, she learns she is to cook and clean for Adam and his six brothers, all of them unmannered slobs.
In this Taming of the Shrew twist, Millie seeks to tame the men.
1920 QUIET MAN
Starring Maureen O’Hara in her native home of Ireland, she is joined by John Wayne, in this 1952 production.
Set in 1920, the storyline follows Ireland tradition, as American Sean Thornton returns to the land of his birth and seeks to tame impatient Kate.
1895 MCCLINTOCK
My absolute favorite of the Taming of the Shrew remakes is the 1964 production of McClintock, starring (again) John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
Set in turn of the century Oklahoma, George W. McClintock is irritated that his wife, Kate, left without explaining the reason.
Suddenly returning home to greet their daughter arriving home from college, Kate angrily makes McClintock’s life miserable in this close remake of The Quiet Man.
Meanwhile in the secondary love story, their daughter Becky (Stephanie Powers) must choose between college educated Matt Douglas, Jr. (Jerry van Dyke, brother of Dick van Dyke) and newly hired cow hand, Dev Warren, (Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne).
Into the mix of flirtations is the innocent but lovely Mrs. Warren, recently widowed mother of Dev, (Yvonne de Carlo aka Mrs. Munster of the Munster Family) who becomes the McClintock family cook, making Kate jealous.
