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Starring Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller.
The Greatest of All Great MGM Musicals... Bigger, Better, Blushin-er than the famed Broadway Smash Hit!, When two squabbling ex-married are cast as squabbling Renaissance romantics in a musical The Taming Of The Shrew, life imitates art, art imitates life - and it all proves no musical comedy imitates Kiss Me Kate, the backstage/onstage delight from the 1948 Broadway smash and featuring 14 peerless Cole Porter songs., Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are the tangled twosome So In Love despite her I Hate Men flashpoints. Ann Miller adds heat, razzle-tap-dazzling in Too Darn Hot and wowing, Tom, Dick and Harry. Fosse and Hermes Pan provide zesty choreography under George Sidney's nimble direction. So Brush Up Your Shakespeare and enjoy. Kate won't just kiss you. She'll floor you.
DVD Special Features include:
Featurette: Cole Porter in Hollywood: Too Darn Hot;
Isolated Musical Score;
Featurette: Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City.
Subtitles available in English, French & Spanish.
Region-2 compatible (suitable for UK DVD players).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
MGM made some of the best musicals ever, and Kiss Me Kate was one of their last. However, it is also one of the best. Combine the music of Cole Porter, with the vocal talent of Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson; the dancing talent of Ann Miller, and a 'new boy' Bob Fosse, and MGM could not miss. Mix that together with Shakespear and you have Kiss Me Kate. Shakespear would have loved it!
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
It is difficult to rate this DVD, because the play is solid--full of one-line zingers and genuine laughs; the music is top-drawer Porter; the acting, singing, dancing are splendid; the costumes and settings are gorgeous, and the film is well-worth watching. Something about it doesn't quite work, however, on DVD.
I was lucky enough as a kid to see this film in 3D. "Kiss Me, Kate" literally jumped off the giant screen; it was truly spectacular--especially the dance numbers, which were staged upon a modernist forced-perspective De Chirico-like set, with Bob Fosse and Carole Haney, who went on to "Pajama Game" in 1954, leaping and twirling their way to fame. Also memorable were Katherine Grayson's "I hate men!" and Howard Keel's "I come to wive it wealthily in Padua!" And Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore, the stage-struck hoods, stole the show as they brushed up their Shakespeare and hoofed their way off stage and out of the lives of the characters whom, through a set of mistaken circumstances, they had come to apply their brass knuckles.
Like Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," which is a play within a play, "Kiss Me Kate" is played onstage before a large "audience." When one saw the film on a large screen in 3-D, one overlooked details, such as the utter lack of reaction by the on-screen audience. Without the excitement of a real audience reacting at the special effects, the play becomes static, and one notices the silence where laughs from the on-screen "audience" would be natural.
The extras are interesting, with comments about the production by Ann Miller, Katherine Grayson, and Howard Keel. They also give you a glimpse of some of the 3D effects (allowing you to fill in the blanks with your imagination). There is also a rather tedious Fitzpatrick travelogue on Manhatten, which is nevertheless of historical interest since it was shot in grainy color before the UN was built in New York City.
With all its faults, including the grainy color transfer, "Kiss Me Kate" should be in your library, as it demonstrates the excellence to which the old Hollywood musicals could strive, and will likely never achieve again.
I was lucky enough as a kid to see this film in 3D. "Kiss Me, Kate" literally jumped off the giant screen; it was truly spectacular--especially the dance numbers, which were staged upon a modernist forced-perspective De Chirico-like set, with Bob Fosse and Carole Haney, who went on to "Pajama Game" in 1954, leaping and twirling their way to fame. Also memorable were Katherine Grayson's "I hate men!" and Howard Keel's "I come to wive it wealthily in Padua!" And Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore, the stage-struck hoods, stole the show as they brushed up their Shakespeare and hoofed their way off stage and out of the lives of the characters whom, through a set of mistaken circumstances, they had come to apply their brass knuckles.
Like Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," which is a play within a play, "Kiss Me Kate" is played onstage before a large "audience." When one saw the film on a large screen in 3-D, one overlooked details, such as the utter lack of reaction by the on-screen audience. Without the excitement of a real audience reacting at the special effects, the play becomes static, and one notices the silence where laughs from the on-screen "audience" would be natural.
The extras are interesting, with comments about the production by Ann Miller, Katherine Grayson, and Howard Keel. They also give you a glimpse of some of the 3D effects (allowing you to fill in the blanks with your imagination). There is also a rather tedious Fitzpatrick travelogue on Manhatten, which is nevertheless of historical interest since it was shot in grainy color before the UN was built in New York City.
With all its faults, including the grainy color transfer, "Kiss Me Kate" should be in your library, as it demonstrates the excellence to which the old Hollywood musicals could strive, and will likely never achieve again.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Amazon Verified Purchase
This is one of those `show-within-a-film' musicals, the show being a musical version of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew; so everybody has two roles - one in the film and the other in the play. The score for this quite splendid musical was by Cole Porter: this was MGM in their musical heyday (1953). Howard Keel played the part of Petruchio in the play and actor Fred Graham in the film. The role of Kate, played by temperamental actress Lilli Vanessi, was played by Kathryn Grayson. Ann Miller was dancer Lois Lane and Bianca and she was in fine form.
Several Porter favourites appeared here including `So in love', `Wunderbar', `Why can't you behave' and the rarely heard little gem `Were thine that special face'. A great comedy number, and one of the high-spots of the film, was the performance by Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore of `Brush up your Shakespeare'. But much of the repartee is brilliant and witty throughout. The quartet `We open in Venice' was subsequently reworked by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, which made it even more popular. The musical direction was by Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin. Surely one of the all-time best musicals!
Several Porter favourites appeared here including `So in love', `Wunderbar', `Why can't you behave' and the rarely heard little gem `Were thine that special face'. A great comedy number, and one of the high-spots of the film, was the performance by Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore of `Brush up your Shakespeare'. But much of the repartee is brilliant and witty throughout. The quartet `We open in Venice' was subsequently reworked by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, which made it even more popular. The musical direction was by Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin. Surely one of the all-time best musicals!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not the best musical ever made but worth watching
This is purely a personal view since I know some people adore this film. It's probably due to my not particularly liking the music. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Denimman
Fantastic!
Straightaway I received an email telling me that the product had been despatched and I received the product the following day. It is exactly what I was after, 5 stars!
Published 4 months ago by Kate
Just me, then?
So. Everybody likes this one. Except me.
One saving grace - the astounding Ann Miller. OK - two saving graces - the costumes are terrific. Read more
One saving grace - the astounding Ann Miller. OK - two saving graces - the costumes are terrific. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. F. L. Dunkin Wedd
DVD Kiss Me Kate ~
I was very chuffed to find this DVD ~ one of my all time specials! No problems with ordering/delivery etc.
Published 15 months ago by Jac of Cards
How to get a superb musical.
This show proves that a superb musical needs a superb plot. The greatest playwright ever wrote the plot and Cole Porter wrote the lyrics. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Peter Burden
Kiss me kate
I will write in German, because my English is not very good.
Well, nach langen Suchen im Netz fand ich diese tolle Ausgabe von Kiss me Kate. Read more
Well, nach langen Suchen im Netz fand ich diese tolle Ausgabe von Kiss me Kate. Read more
Published 17 months ago by NIK
Kiss Me Kate dvd
I have always loved this film and was not disappointed. The reproduction was great as was the sound quality. Its the sort of film you can watch over and over. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Sue Scott
Kiss Me Kate
Probably my all-time favourite film! Saw it first as a child; wore out my VHS version, and I'm so thrilled to have it on DVD! Read more
Published 21 months ago by Dorothy V. Francis
Listmania!
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