Act I
The film begins with two men (presumably Gremio and
Hortensio) falling for Bianca. Then Katherina enters upstage, and first hits a
servant with his own hat. She then frightens away Bianca’s suitors and yells at
Bianca.
Act II
Baptista then enters, followed by a man with a lute (a
different man, so this can’t be Hortensio, unless one of the previous men was
Lucentio). He tries to teach her by placing her hands on the instrument, but
she gets upset. Interestingly, she doesn’t smash the instrument over his head.
Instead, she drops it and grabs some kind of framed canvas and hits him over the
head with that. She really throttles him.
We then get the first title card of the film: “Arrival of
Petruchio, intent upon winning Katherina’s love.” Petruchio meets Baptista.
Act III
After Petruchio talks with Baptista, the film then skips
right to the day of the wedding. Petruchio’s clothes are a mess, but he is
apparently on time.
Act IV
Act IV begins with a title card: “At Petruchio’s home –
he determines to curb her temper.” In this version, Petruchio carries a whip,
and proceeds to beat his servants with it. Katherina tries to stop him, then
cowers on the left side of the screen, even hiding under the table. He is then
very gentle with her as he helps her out from under the table.
His servants bring in the food, and before Katherina can
dig in, Petruchio takes it from her to inspect it. He then beats the servants
with the meat. She sits down and he laughs behind her, waving the whip around
playfully.
A title card reads, “The servants tremble before their
master.”
The Tailor then arrives (he and the Haberdasher are
combined into one character) and is left alone with Katherina, showing her a
garment, which she is clearly keen on. He hands her a hat that she admires.
Before she can put it on, Petruchio re-enters, takes it from her, inspects it,
then throws it to the floor. The Tailor flees, and Petruchio leads Katherina
upstairs.
Petruchio then catches Katherina in the kitchen trying to
eat some of the food, which of course he takes from her. This leads to more
beating of the servants. She, on her knees, tries to get him to stop.
Act V
A title card reads, “The Lion And The Lamb.”
The fifth act is quite different from the play. Rather
than Petruchio and Katherina traveling to Baptista’s house, Baptista oddly
arrives at Petruchio’s home to rescue his daughter. But then she runs back to
Petruchio. Baptista throws up his hands in defeat and leaves.
Then, outside, Petruchio puts flowers in Katherina’s
hair. And that’s the last shot of the film.
(It's interesting that this film has no title cards with actual dialogue.)
Time: 11 minutes
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