Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Let's see: Shakespeare, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller, Bob Fosse, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare"; How the heck could this have not been one the best MGM musicals made?! It's one of those movies that I have on tape, but get sucked into anytime I run across it on cable - I just can't change the channel or turn the TV off.
Rating: 
Summary: Who knew Bob Fosse danced himself?
Review: Many moments are dazzling. Some critics have given the film a nay, because it either isn't as brittle and acid-tongued as the stage show (how could it be?), or because it is 'too' brittle. Is that because it's Cole Porter? (You want Porter, you get Porter.) I happen to love it, as did my first ever sweetheart; we were enthralled by the crisp, acerbic dialogue, and the Cole Porter music simply proves that a song can be every bit as seductive as the performer himself. But my favorite moment comes near the end, when a three-way duet of dancers performing "From This Moment On" reveals an unknown beauty named Carol Haney and a soon-to-be known dynamo named Bob Fosse. After miles of leaps, taps, and spins, the Fosse/Haney section slides (literally) into a slow, seductive, courtship duet that, amazingly, only lasts about fifty-six seconds. But it's one of those musical moments you never forget. I heard a rumor that a print of the original 3-D film still exists- just in case you wondering why so many things were hurled at the camera in the movie, and that it's supposed to be shown (or planning to be shown) to the public fairly soon. If anyone else has heard anything about this, please lemme know. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: 50'S Sophiticated Humor and Big Production Musical
Review: Not Shakespeare! The setting is backstage of a "modern" musical production of "The Taming Of The Shrew". Charming, very 50s (true 50s - not American Graffiti 50s). Kathryn Grayson never more beautiful. Howard Keel at his best. If you liked Showboat, Singin' In The Rain, or Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, you'll like this. If tap dancing, big musical numbers, and dated movies don't do anything for you, give this one a pass! (This is one of my personal favorites!)
Rating: 
Summary: Should have included a Field Sequential 3-D version!
Review: Not that many people are aware of the Field Field Sequential 3-D .
This is a 3-D TV system that uses special shutter glasses that can be purchased here through Amazon in a set that includes 3 DVD's using this process. This system Is the only way to view a 3-D film effectively on TV to date. The result is about 90% close to the effect you will see in a theatre showing.. like IMAX and Disney and Universal.
These glasses are made of sturdy plastic and clear not these cardboard red and blue pieces of garbage, so you can view the film without constricted to seeing red and blue colors and with this system you will see more actual 3-D depth with the films true colors.. It's really amazing!
For some odd reason the big studios haven't adapted to include a separate version of a 3-D title in this great format.
Films like:
"House of Wax","Kiss Me Kate","Friday the 13th Part 3", "Robot Monster, "Cat Woman on the Moon", "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "Jaws 3" are all now in 2-D DVD, but were originally shown in 3-D and could have been included using the Field Seqential 3-D system on the same disc with the 2-D version.
In Japan in the late 80's there were a few 3-D titles released using Field Sequential 3-D and can be found on e-bay converted to DVD and VHS.
Why aren't the studios producing these now!
I boycott any film DVD release that was originally intended to be seen in 3-D that's only presented in a 2-D version or anaglyph (Red and Blue Glasses).
The studios should really be awaken to this great 3-D system.
Rating:
Summary: Should have included a Field Sequential 3-D version!
Review: Not that many people are aware of the Field Field Sequential 3-D .
This is a 3-D TV system that uses special shutter glasses that can be purchased here through Amazon in a set that includes 3 DVD's using this process. This system Is the only way to view a 3-D film effectively on TV to date. The result is about 90% close to the effect you will see in a theatre showing.. like IMAX and Disney and Universal.
These glasses are made of sturdy plastic and clear not these cardboard red and blue pieces of garbage, so you can view the film without constricted to seeing red and blue colors and with this system you will see more actual 3-D depth with the films true colors.. It's really amazing!
For some add reason the big studios haven't adapted to include a separate version of a 3-D title in this great format.
Films like:
"House of Wax","Kiss Me Kate","Friday the 13th Part 3", "Robot Monster, "Cat Woman on the Moon", "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "Jaws 3" are all now in 2-D DVD, but were originally shown in 3-D and could have been included using the Field Seqential 3-D system on the same disc with the 2-D version.
In Japan in the late 80's there were a few 3-D titles released using Field Sequential 3-D and can be found on e-bay converted to DVD and VHS.
Why aren't the studios producing these now!
I boycott any film DVD release that was originally intended to be seen in 3-D that's only presented in a 2-D version or anaglyph (Red and Blue Glasses). The studios should really be awaken to this great 3-D system.
Rating: 
Summary: Kissing Kate is Best Left to Broadway
Review: The current smash musical on Broadway is KISS ME KATE, and if you are hoping that the film version will be the "next best thing to being there," you will be sorely disappointed. Essentially the plot of the film copies that of the play: a divorced couple reunite for a musical version of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. Backstage lives mix with on-stage characters, and the Cole Porter songs are the best he ever wrote. But lyrics are bowlderized and the cleaner versions of "I Hate Men," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," "Too Darn Hot" and others are just not as much fun. Also, it is hard to believe that "Another Op'nin, Another Show" and "Bianca" do not even appear in the film. Howard Keel is wunderbar as Petruchio, but Kathryn Grayson's trill can become tiresome. Ann Miller is a hoot, but she plays tap-happy Ann Miller, not Bianca. Yet, it is fun to see very young Bob Fosse dance in his pre-Broadway days. Overall, the film is flat (ironic, as it was filmed in 3-D) and many scenes are dull. This classic musical just was not done justice by MGM and it deserves to be re-made in the fashion that Porter intended it to be.
Rating:
Summary: Good show, dissapointing DVD
Review: The DVD is a cropped full screen instead of the source widescreen material. The cropping isn't all that bad since this early widescreen movie is barely 16:9 (if that at all.) The picture is very soft and occasionally grainy, also a disappointment since I was expecting an improvement over my recording off of TCM earlier this year. The TCM broadcast happened to be be widescreen, by the way. Also, the subtitles lack the song lyrics; there's nothing but the dialog! The new documentary is lame; more of a pat on the back to the various principles. Only James Whitmore had an interesting story to tell. Lastly, no 3-D, not even a sample. If you've got this on video somewhere else, don't buy this version.
Rating:
Summary: It's the Tops!
Review: This charming film, along with so many others, came spilling out of the MGM cornucopia in 1953. This is a show-within-a-show musical about a Broadway production of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" with Kathryn Grayson playing the rather shrewish lead. The screenplay takes many liberties with the original Broadway book, some for the worse (insane bowdlerizing such as changing "raising hell" to "raising Cain") some for the better (the wonderful ensemble production number "From This Moment On"). Grayson and Keel strike sparks against each other quite effectively as the divorced couple who are forced to share a stage and Ann Miller is spot-on as the slightly dimwitted hoofer who has a crush on Keel. The dancing in this movie is enchanting. For once, Ann Miller has been freed from her wind-em-up-and-let-her-go tapping, and she makes the most of it in "Tom, Dick and Harry" and other numbers. In the show-stopping "From This Moment On" Bobby Van, Tommy Rall and a very young Bob Fosse use tap, ballroom and modern dance to great advantage. And, while not exactly a dance, no one can forget Grayson's slam-bang "I Hate Men." In case you're wondering why things are forever spinning out of the background or why people are flinging things toward the camera, this film was originally released in 3-D. Never mind that, "Kiss Me Kate" is a classic anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Why can't they do it right?
Review: This is a great looking and sounding DVD, but why isn't it letterboxed? If you've seen the copy shown on TCM, the movie was shot in a slightly wide-screen format, not at all distracting to the viewer. There's no excuse for this oversight on the part of Warner Home Video, other than maybe they want us to buy it twice when it's re-issued at a later date in widescreen. Better yet, they should put a regular 3 by 4 version and a letterbox version on the same disc like so many movies do. ...
Rating:
Summary: GRAYSON & KEEL AT THEIR ZENITH
Review: This is by far one of the very best musicals ever made. Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel displays Oscar worthy performances as Lilli and Fred. Sadly, this was Grayson`s last MGM film and she did only 1 more(at Paramount - The Vagabond King with Oreste).
In KISS ME KATE she shows us a depth and nuance and is right on target the whole picture through. Audrey Hepburn won that year`s Oscar for Roman Holiday - but Miss Grayson should deservedly have won it.
The same goes for Howard Keel. True, he is hammy at times - but it is a remarkable performance he gives(Mind u - he was a musical star). William Wolden`s Oscar for Stalag 17 should have gone to Mr Keel.
That`s Entertainment and its sequels payed deservedly homage to producer Arthur Freed and his genius in selecting and delegating crew and performers to the right project were uncanny.
Yet you shouldn`t negletct Jack Cummings who produced this film, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and Three Little Words(to name but a few). It seems to me that MGM had an "MGM-look!" Can u really tell the MGM films from 1930-1960 apart and say which 1 was the director? Not really, unless u are Hitchcock or Fritz Lang.
What I mean to say that it`s high time Cummings, Joe Pasternak og Sol C. Sigel comes out of the cold and are giving honours for their splendid musical efforts(Bathing Beauty, Anchors Aweigh, In the Good Old Summertime, Summer Stock, The Great Caruso, Hit The Deck and High Society etc).
I must also pay may respects to Tommy Rall(soon 2 be one of the brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers); he is a dancer`s dream come true:-)
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