The Taming Of The Shrew (1929) DVD

William Shakespeare's classic farce about a wealthy merchant of Padua who announces he will not allow the marriage of his youngest daughter, Bianca, until her sister Katherine is wed even though the latter is shunned by all because of her shrewish behaviour. Petruchio (Douglas Fairbanks) steps in to tame the shrew but can he?

This "talkie" is the only film co-starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. This print is from the 1966 re-release, the only film Miss Pickford allowed since her retirement. It is faithful to the original except that new music and new sound effects were added by Mr. Marty Kemp of the Mary Pickford Company during his painstaking restoration of the film. Seven minutes of the footage that were in the original were removed in bits and pieces to tighten the editing and the sound of the voices was improved by new re-recording techniques since only the original sound discs, scratched and deteriorated over the years remained as the source material. Serious difficulties with Douglas Fairbanks, combined with other troubles, caused Miss Pickford to recall the filming of the Shrew as a dreadful experience, although in retrospect she later said that she thought Fairbanks was magnificent in the final version of the film.

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