The Taming of the Shrew (1929)

 "O my word, she is a lusty wench."

This is not, of course, a very good adaptation. It is, nevertheless, the first big Hollywood Shakespeare film of the sound era. I shall save discussion of the play itself- is it misogynistic or ironic? What did Shakespeare intend? Does that matter, as Roland Barthes would bid us ask?- for a better adaptation, although I would note that Mary Pickford portrays Catherine's "taming" with a literal wink to the fourth wall. 1929 was not the dark ages. Straight misogyny just would not do.

Yet this isn't very good. Early talkies often aren't. Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks are good silent actors, but there are reasons why sound killed their careers. Their big acting styles, so evocative in silent movies, don't suit sound. Also, the chemistry here is of a couple whose marriage is ending, not beginning... because their marriage was ending.

Nevertheless, and controversially, I'd say that Pickford is pretty good here. You can tell she wasn't hired for her spoken acting, but she's fine, and her visual acting, while not subtle, is very good indeed and suited for comedy in a way lots of the slapstick here falls short. Fairbanks, as Petruchio, is... rubbish.

As is the film. Shakespeare's dialogue is changed beyond reason. This is Shakrespeare for the groundlings which... is not, actually, intrinsically a bad thing. But this is not a path down which Hollywood would continue.

A bad film, then, despite patches of merit. But fascibatingly bad. Also, well out of copyright and on YouTube.