Review: Pickford and Fairbanks in The Taming of the Shrew (1929)

If you are looking for a masterpiece of theater, you should probably keep walking. This movie is mostly for people who want to see two massive silent film stars try to figure out how to talk and hit each other at the same time.

It is definitely worth watching if you care about Hollywood history or just want to see Mary Pickford look genuinely annoyed. People who want high-brow poetry will probably hate how much they cut the script down.

The first thing you notice is the noise. Since it was 1929, the sound is kind of echoey and sharp, especially when Katherine starts breaking things. 🏺

Mary Pickford plays Katherine like a woman who has just had the worst Monday of her life. She doesn't just act angry; she looks like she wants to bite the camera lens.

Then there is Douglas Fairbanks as Petruchio. He doesn't really walk into a room as much as he invades it with his teeth showing.

He carries this massive whip that he cracks constantly. It gets a bit much after the fifth or sixth time, honestly. 🤠

There is a moment early on where he is just eating an apple while she screams. It feels very real, like a couple that has been arguing in a car for three hours.

I forgot how short this movie is. They stripped away almost all the subplots to focus on the two of them fighting in a big room.

If you have seen The Young Lady and the Hooligan, you know how these early silent-to-talkie transitions can feel a bit stiff. This one has that same vibe where everyone is standing very still so the hidden microphones can hear them.

The wedding scene is probably the highlight. Fairbanks shows up looking like a total mess, and the look of pure disgust on Pickford’s face is the best acting in the whole thing.

She throws a stool at one point. It looks heavy, too.

One weird thing is the credits where it says "additional dialogue by Sam Taylor." Imagine having the guts to think you need to help Shakespeare finish a play. ✍️

The ending feels very rushed. Katherine gives her big speech about obeying husbands, but Pickford does this little wink to the audience that changes the whole meaning.

It makes the movie feel less like a lecture and more like a game they are playing. Without that wink, the movie would be pretty hard to sit through today.

The sets are huge and look like they cost a fortune. But they feel empty, kind of like the house in Betty Be Good where everything is just a bit too shiny.

I noticed a dog in the background of one scene that looked very confused by all the yelling. I felt bad for the dog.

Fairbanks is just so loud. He laughs at his own jokes way more than the audience does.

It’s not a perfect movie by any means. The pacing is weird and some of the supporting actors look like they are waiting for their bus to arrive.

But seeing these two together is something. You can tell they were actually married because the sparks—and the annoyance—feel very authentic.

Don't expect a deep dive into the human condition. It's just a loud, 1920s domestic dispute with better costumes than usual. 👗