Kiss Me Kate

Rating:
Summary: God lives on the Internet too!
Review: I was a teenager when I first saw Kiss me Kate and never forgot this amazing film.I began to study piano,to read Shakespeare, to learn drama because I fell SO IN LOVE with this beautiful film. It is my first video shopping. Yes, God lives on the Internet too and now He must help me to have money enough to buy others movie's gems...Thank you!

Rating:
Summary: "So In Love" With Kiss Me Kate!!!!
Review: I was looking at the previous reviews and I must have received an improved DVD. On my screen the colors were very vivid and the images very clear.

I bought this because I always enjoyed this movie from the first time I've seen it. The Grayson/Keel duets (and their sparring) are first rate, and the dancers (Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse) are at their best, though I don't know why in the editing of Tom, Dick and Harry, no one caught Bobby Van nearly being knocked over by Tommy Rall's flying entrance--big whoa!

I'm glad that Howard Keel was selected for the role of Fred Graham. In what I've read and he even admits it himself that he wasn't originally considered for the role. (I've read that Laurence Olivier was one of the actors considered . . . ) One cannot imagine this without Keel's fine voice, the gleam in his eye when he smiles, and that devilish laugh. Kathryn Grayson gives equal whit and energy. Her voice and range is excellent. Their chemistry at its best.

I think more could have been done with the extras, behind the scenes, more on the actors. The clip with Ann Miller's narration (thankfully done before her passing) helps, but I think more could have been said (and probably was but maybe edited for time) by Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Tommy Rall.

I've performed in the stage version, and this is an excellent screen adaption of the play. "Kiss Me" anytime!!

Rating:
Summary: Kiss Me Anytime!
Review: I was looking at the previous reviews and I must have received an improved DVD. On my screen the colors were very vivid and the images very clear.

I bought this because I always enjoyed this movie from the first time I've seen it. The Grayson/Keel duets (and their sparring) are first rate, and the dancers (Ann Miller, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse) are at their best, though I don't know why in the editing of Tom, Dick and Harry, no one caught Bobby Van nearly being knocked over by Tommy Rall's flying entrance--big whoa!

I'm glad that Howard Keel was selected for the role of Fred Graham. In what I've read and he even admits it himself that he wasn't originally considered for the role. (I've read that Laurence Olivier was one of the actors considered . . . ) One cannot imagine this without Keel's fine voice, the gleam in his eye when he smiles, and that devilish laugh. Kathryn Grayson gives equal whit and energy. Her voice and range is excellent. Their chemistry at its best.

I think more could have been done with the extras, behind the scenes, more on the actors. The clip with Ann Miller's narration (thankfully done before her passing) helps, but I think more could have been said (and probably was but maybe edited for time) by Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Tommy Rall.

I've performed in the stage version, and this is an excellent screen adaption of the play. "Kiss Me" anytime!!

Rating:
Summary: How to Win Back Your Wife
Review: I write this review in honor of Howard Keel's 85th birthday.
"Kiss Me, Kate" is a lively, albeit dated musical with a slightly chauvenistic streak. It takes liberties with Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", but is more fun than reading the actual play.
The estranged couple Fred Graham and Lilly Vanessi (Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson), have been divorced for a year at the time they take the lead roles in the Cole Porter musical. Based loosely on Alfred Lunt and his wife Lynn Fontaine, their behind-the-scenes bickering gets a little out of hand and occasionally, resulting in a well-defined lack of professional courtesy as they occassionally humiliate each other in full view of an audience.
But they also have their glorious moments, such as a reminiscence that leads to the number, "Wunderbar".As did their first number, "So In Love", this number reveals a certain wistfulness at their estrangement from each other at the end.
The subplot is the realationship between the play's secondary couple, Lois Lane(Ann Miller) and Bill Calhoun (Tommy Rall), a compulsive gambler who signs Fred Graham's name to an IOU.
The play begins. The number,"Another Opening, Another Show" is heard only as an instrumental piece beforehand. But the numbers, "We Open In Venice" and "Tom, Dick or Harry" kick the show off magnificently. As a big fan of the late Ann Miller's dance numbers,the latter is probably my favorite. As Gremio and Hortensio, Bobby Van and Bob Fosse thrill us with their trademark moves.
Keel sings a sumptuous ballad as his ex discovers that the flowers she thought were intended for her were intended for Lois. Through it all, Howard Keel is characteristically confident, uttering lines of unadulturated sarcasm as his ego occassionally gets the better of him. After being slapped by Lilly, he proves to be even more of a drama queen than any actress.Perhaps the sexiest scene in the film is when Graham removes the sausage links his ex-wife hides against her poitrine during one scne in the play.

Kathryn Grayson, with her porcelain skin and heart-shaped mouth, is a living Madame Alexander Doll in the part of Lilly/Kate. She is comically, firey and able to stand up to her ex-husband and to the thugs that he uses to keep her onstage(Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore) when she threatens to leave after Fred humiliates her. Lippy and Slug appear to collect they debt they believe Graham owes them, and while not althogether academically inclined, they display some knowledege of the Bard and his works, although they look ridiculous in their onstage costumes.
Willard Parks, as Tex Callahan offers Lilly a possible escape from her life in the theatre. But ultimately she is won back not by Fred's threats or humilation, but by the simple admission that he was wrong. While some may find the end to be disappointing, it should be remembered that it was Lilly who ultimately chose whether or not to give Fred a second chance, and Graham's beam of triumph and the twinkle in his eye at the end are worth more than any words-even those by the Bard himself-can say.

Rating:
Summary: The Taming of the Musical
Review: If you scroll down a couple of reviews I have to agree with Mr. Rozakis's unpopular review, from the perspective of comparing it to the play.

This is an incredible film, definitely a classic, but to me its a VERY tamed down version of the musical. On the other hand, I can't imagine much of the raunchy dialogue making it to a Hollywood film of that era... bad enough a play about a divorced couple (*or "formerly married" as they say) - - the stage play is a no holds barred farce about the battle of the sexes which never would have made it past the censors... especially with lines like, "The business is the business which he gives his secretary," <-- With all this in mind, I think Hollywood did the best it could adapting the musical to screen... and considering that it became a classic, the public and critics must agree. However, it was Cole Porter's wild lyrics that really made the musical, so I'd have to strongly suggest if you don't want to miss anything, get your hands on a copy of either the ORIGINAL Broadway Cast Recording or the Broadway revival version as well and that way, short of a Broadway ticket, you'll have the whole kit n kaboodle.

Rating:
Summary: dazzling musical
Review: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Ann Miller bring down the roof in KISS ME KATE, currently enjoying it's Broadway revival, and the perfect time to re-discover this classic movie.

The story-within-a-story of KISS ME KATE is that of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". The action takes place backstage as a company of performers do the play as a musical.

At the centre of the action is Fred Graham (Howard Keel) and Lilli Vanessi (Kathryn Grayson), as ex-lovers they are unexpectadly reunited to perform the leads of Petruchio and Katherine. They still cannot stand each other, and the insults can't fly fast enough!

Fred's new girlfriend Lois Lane (Ann Miller) is still going with her ex-boyfriend Bill (Tommy Rall), while two old codgers show up and tell them all to "Brush Up Your Shakespeare"!

With the Cole Porter tunes "So In Love", "Why Can't You Behave?", "Wunderbar" and "From This Moment On", KISS ME KATE is a musical feast!

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF MGM`S BEST
Review: KISS ME KATE 1953 is one of the best that MGM ever made. Starring Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, but stolen by ANN MILLER and the underused TOMMY RALL. Good production values, superb performances all over...

Rating:
Summary: In Your Face Musical Comedy
Review: Kiss Me Kate is a wonderful presentation. Produced in 1953 it contains faux 3D affects -- with objects thrown at the camera (it probably was originally shown in 3D) occasionally. That's a little distracting, but it is a period piece.
The show stopper Brush Up Your Shakespeare with Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore is excellent. Although neither is a singer or a dancer, they are charming.
The comedy by-play of Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel as the feuding divorced couple starring in a play within a play is wonderful. The staging of their two dressing rooms along with the choreography as they waltz through the rooms and hallway is fun to watch.
The dancing is top rate with Ann Miller and Bobby Van, but my favorite person to watch is the very young Bob Fosse. Even in the early fifties you can see the dance moves that made him famous for the next four decades.
This is a movie I'll watch again and again. I'll purchase the DVD when it becomes available, too.

Rating:
Summary: Kiss Me Kate
Review: Kiss Me Kate is fun. Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore singing and dancing to "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" is a hoot. Bob Fosse and Ann Miller, in their prime, dancing up a storm. Beware, however, if you miss this film in 3-D, you miss an extraordinary experience. They actually filmed Kiss Me Kate twice. Once for 3-D and once for flat screen. The flat screen, as an earlier reviewer put it, is flat. The 3-D is spectacular. There are currently newly reissued prints of the 3-D version circulating the country. If it plays near you - go see it. If it doesn't, the VHS - absent a DVD - will teach you the songs and give you a somewhat pale version of one of the great musicals ever brought to screen.

Rating:
Summary: Too Darn Cool!
Review: Kiss Me, Kate is one of the greatest of post-Judy era of MGM musicals. The cast is, to say the least, high-spirited, and a dull frame of film is not allowed to flicker by. Ann Miller is the liveliest, and stops the show early on with her tap-happy rendition of "Too Darn Hot." The dancing throughout is especially notable, too, as we have a young Bob Fosse, given a whole minute of experimental dance in the "From This Moment On" number, where he displays the kind of genius that would someday make him famous. Kathryn Grayson is at turns, funny, romantic, gorgeous and a darn hoot to watch. Her singing powers were at their height, and she uses them to full advantage in "So In Love" and "I Hate Men!" Howard Keel keeps the show moving along in fine style, without missing a beat. And don't miss Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore as a pair of bungling mobsters, who somehow end up holding Kathryn hostage onstage! Yep, things are never dull in this movie, but there's only one thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars instead of 4: the cinematography. Ya see, it was originally conceived as a 3-D extravaganza, (although the original 3-D print seems to be lost), and as a result, the viewer is constantly bombarded with STUFF being thrown into the camera. Mugs and dice and whips and things are soaring right into your face at every moment...and one asks "Why? Why?" If you don't know that it was supposed to be in 3-D, it makes for a very...odd...cinematic experience. But, ignore the flying props and give it a look...