Welcome to Public Domain Theater, your home for the wonderful world of films that have (in the United States, at least) fallen into the public domain, and are free for everyone to see!
This month, we have the 1929 film The Taming of the Shrew, based on the play by William Shakespeare. It holds the honor of being the first ever sound adaptation of a Shakespeare play on film – albeit a somewhat loose and truncated version of the play, doing the core beats of the plot in a little over an hour.
Taming of the Shrew is, of course, one of Shakespeare’s more controversial and problematic plays (behind only maybe Othello), but this film handles it with a deft touch. The whole thing is played for farce, opening with a Punch & Judy show to set the tone, changing up some plot details to add double meanings to the proceedings, and literally ending with a wink to the audience. With lead actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks bringing loads of charm and humor to their roles, it makes for a breezy little comedy.
To go with this first ever talkie Shakespeare film, we also have the first ever talkie from legendary comedy actor W.C. Fields. “The Golf Specialist” is a twenty-minute short that nominally has a plot, but is really just an excuse for Fields’s character to be repeatedly flummoxed as one gag after another keeps them from teeing off. But when the gags are this good, who’s gonna complain?
So if you’re up for some old-timey farce and slapstick, be sure not to miss these fine offerings from the public domain.
Opening Short:
Feature Presentation:
