Kiss Me Kate
by George Sidney, James H. Smith
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Actor: Ann Miller, James A. FitzPatrick, Kathryn Grayson, Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip, Mrs. Nicholas M. SchenckDirector: George Sidney, James H. Smith
Brand: KiSS
Producer: James A. FitzPatrick
Producer: Jack Cummings
Writer: Bella Spewack
Writer: Dorothy Kingsley
Writer: Sam Spewack
Writer: William Shakespeare
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Kiss Me Kate
DVD Review: A Rollicking Production From MGM's "B" Unit
Summary: 5 Stars
So popular were MGM's musicals during the "golden" decade that ran from 1944 to 1954 that one production unit was not enough to satisfy the demand for this genre. Modern viewers may find this hullabaloo a little hard to understand, but in an era where the overwhelming majority of films were still shot in black and white, MGM's glorious Technicolor productions were always considered a bit of a visual treat for audiences jaded by more typical "film noire" fare. Perhaps the waning popularity of musicals beginning in the late 1950's had something to do with the upsurge of colour in other film genres, as well as a decline in the colour quality of film musicals themselves (of which Kiss Me Kate is a good example) as studios cut costs by abandoning glorious three step Technicolor for the much duller one step colour processes such as Ansco.Kiss Me Kate, a Broadway stage hit, was turned over to the studio's so called "B" Unit; a lower budget knock off of the "A" Unit headed by Arthur Freed and headed by such stellars of the film musical world as director Vincente Minnelli, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, etc. Minnelli's search for perfection was legendary so it comes as no surprise that he would run up production costs, which became more of an issue in the problematic years of the early 1950's.
So MGM increasingly relied on the "B" Unit to keep up with the demand for musicals while at the same time not breaking the bank.
George Sidney was one of the favourite directors of the "B" Unit with a reputation for getting excellent results with sparser resources, such as time and money. Sidney achieved his results by fostering an "esprit de corps" atmosphere amongst his crew and cast. One of the hallmark of Sidney helmed films is that everyone seems to be having a good time and Kiss Me Kate is an excellent example of this. Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller and the rest of the cast all turn in wonderful performances in spite of their lesser marquee appeal compared to the "big guns" of the "A" Unit. They are helped along immeasureably by Cole Porter's splendid score, one of the very best to make its way to celluloid.
Some viewers complain that this DVD is not in the widescreen format. This film was shot in 1953, the same year that Fox introduced Cinemascope. Kiss Me Kate was one of the last major musicals to be shot in the old standard format, and it was soon realized that the novelty of 3-D would never be able to compete with widescreen. Viewers who claim to have seen Kiss Me Kate in widescreen probably saw a bit of mischief perpertrated by unscrupulous studio moguls who in their rush to get on the widescreen band wagon stooped to trimming the tops and bottoms of 35 mm film in order to achieve the 16:9 format. I think the process was called SuperScope and had a mercifully brief life as viewing audiences didn't appreciate seeing their stars minus their feet and the tops of their heads lobbed off.
No use in complaining about poor colour quality. Ansco was a bit of a disaster, being unstable in addition to it's other shortcomings. We should be grateful for what we have.
That the film version of Kiss Me Kate lacks the bite of the stage version is because of puritanical censorship codes that were rigorously enforced until well into the 1960's, and cannot be blamed on the film's creative team.
All in all, Kiss Me Kate is musical and comical riot from start to end and probably stands as the high light of George Sidney's illustrious career.
Description of Kiss Me Kate
A battling once-married couple is reunited on stage in a performance of the Shakespeare play Taming of the Shrew.Genre: Musicals
Rating: NR
Release Date: 22-APR-2003
Media Type: DVD
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