La vergine ribelle

This is a new rendition based on the classic play by William Shakespeare with a great Spanish cast as Camen Sevilla and Alberto Closas ; along with nice secondaries as Manolo Gomez Bur , Raymond Cordy , Luis Sanchez Polack , among others .The plot is wel known as the youngest daughter of a wealthy aristocrat is not allowed to marry until his eldest daughter , the extremely headstrong is bethrothed . This task seems to be impossible because of her shrewish demeanor . But with the sudden arrival of the lusty Alberto Closas things change , as he agrees to court her when is told of her wit and beauty .

It was all movement , arguments, action, energy , fast and fun.A good natured version of the play with luxurious sets , impressive production design , brilliant gowns and evocative scenarios. Thoroughly enjoyable , though follows partially the original play .Carmen Sevilla and Alberto Closas give likeable interpretations , both of them are full of life and energy .The acting , pursuits, swordplay , dancing , songs and delivery of the lines were so crisp. There are huge set pieces , elaborate props , adequate costumes and great production.

Big budget movie by the great producer Benito Perojo , being a Spanish French coproduction. Sensational setting by the prestigious Sigfrido Burmann . Luxury photography, being neccessary a perfect remastering beacause of the colors are washed out. Atmospheric musical score by Augusto Alguero including songs sung by Carmen Sevilla . Evocative and adequate cinematography by Antonio L Ballesterors. The motion picture was professional and lavishly directed by Antonio Roman . Antonio was a good craftsman who directed acceptableas Pacto de Silencio, Los ultimos de Filipinas, Fuenteovejuna, Escuadrilla, tiro por la espalda , El amor Brujo and a Western titled Ringo de Nebraska

Other versions of this classic story are the followings : the classical The Taming of the shrew by Franco Zeffireli with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton , MichaelYork. The Taming of Shrew 1976 by Kirk Browning with Mark Singer , Harry Hamlin , Al White . And the silent rendition The Taming of the shrew 1929 by Sam Taylor with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks.

This lavish knockabout version of Shakespeare's battle-of-the-sexes farce adds some strange and kinky twists to a familiar tale. The shrewish heroine Catalina makes her first entrance in full male drag. Charging about on horseback, flashing her sword - for all the world like Woolf's Orlando or Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin. When her macho suitor Don Beltran tries to subdue her, he chains her to a pillar. Reminding us of some S&M bondage fantasy from Jess Franco or Bunuel's Belle de Jour.

Such mini-forays into androgyny and sadomasochism are more interesting than anything in Franco Zeffirelli's more famous 1967 film. A pity that director Antonio Roman doesn't make more out of them, and rewrite the whole play along similarly subversive lines. For most of its running time, alas, this film sticks close to Shakespeare's original - i.e. it's crass, sexist and woefully unfunny. This member of the audience had no wish to see Beltran 'tame' Catalina. Especially when she's played by the fiery Carmen Sevilla (all eye-flashing, bosom-heaving splendour) and he's played by the drab and paunchy Alberto Closas!

Proof, perhaps, that you can only do so much with a bad play. At least the production is eye-poppingly lavish, with deliciously over-the-top costumes and Spanish national monuments standing in as sets. A pity they had to photograph it all in ghastly Gevacolor. The print I saw (in the 5 AM 'graveyard slot' on Spanish TV) had faded so badly, it was hard to imagine how splendid it must once have looked. If only some genius could restore the print and fade out the ghastly sexism of Shakespeare's text! Now there's a thought...

David Melville