“Kiss Me Kate (film)”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Kiss Me Kate is a 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name.

Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, it tells the tale of musical theater actors Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, who were once married, and are now performing opposite each other in the roles of Petruchio and Katherine in a Broadway-bound musical version of William Shakespeare's play.

Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the production's success. The only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters, who have come to collect a gambling debt from the show's Lucentio, Bill Calhoun. In classic musical comedy fashion, slapstick madness ensues before everything is resolved.

Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay, which was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award, was adapted from the musical's book by Samuel and Bella Spewack. The songs were by Cole Porter, with musical underscoring by Saul Chaplin and André Previn, who were nominated for an Academy Award. Hermes Pan choreographed the dance routines.

The movie was filmed in 3-D, using the most advanced methods of that technique then available. Devotees of the stereoscopic 3-D medium usually cite this film as one of the best examples of a Hollywood release in polarized 3D.^[4]

Plot

Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, a divorced couple, meet at Fred's apartment to hear Cole Porter perform the score for his musical version of The Taming of the Shrew, to be directed by Fred and called "Kiss Me Kate". Lois Lane arrives to audition for the "Bianca" role ("Too Darn Hot"). Lilli decides against performing the lead character "Katherine", opposite Fred in the male lead "Petruchio", as she is leaving to marry a rich Texas rancher. She changes her mind when Cole and Fred manipulate her by offering Lois the lead role.

Lois's boyfriend, Bill Calhoun, is playing "Lucentio" in the play. He leads a gambling lifestyle, which results in owing a local gangster $2,000, but he has signed the IOU in Fred's name. Lois laments his bad-boy lifestyle ("Why Can't You Behave?").

After a fiery confrontation during rehearsals, Fred and Lilli get together in her dressing room and reminisce about happier times ("Wunderbar"). Fred later sends flowers and a card to Lois, but his butler mistakenly gives them to Lilli. Lilli is overcome by this romantic gesture and fails to read the card ("So In Love (Reprise)").

The play opens, with Fred, Lilli, Lois and Bill performing an opening number ("We Open In Venice"). In the play, Bianca, the younger daughter of Baptista, wishes to marry, but her father will not allow it until his elder daughter, Katherine, is married. Bianca has three suitors – Gremio, Hortensio and Lucentio – and each of them tries to win her over. She is prepared to marry anyone ("...any Tom, Dick or Harry...").

Petruchio arrives, seeking a wife ("I've Come To Wive It Wealthily In Padua"), and when he hears of Katherine, he resolves to woo her. Katherine hates the idea of getting married ("I Hate Men"). When Petruchio serenades Katherine ("Were Thine That Special Face"), Lilli is so moved by Fred's heartfelt delivery that she finally reads the card from the flowers, having kept it next to her heart. She sees that it is addressed to Lois, and attacks Fred/Petruchio mercilessly on stage, ad-libbing verbal abuse. As the curtain comes down, Fred has had enough, and spanks Lilli/Kate. Backstage, Lilli phones her fiancé, Tex Calloway, to come and immediately pick her up.

Lippy and Slug, a pair of thugs, arrive to collect the IOU from Fred. Fred decides to accept the IOU and convinces Lippy and Slug that he needs them to keep Lilli from leaving the show so it will be successful enough for Fred to pay the debt. Lois has learned that Fred has taken responsibility for the IOU and she comes to thank him, but each time she begins to thank him for not being angry about Bill forging his name, Fred kisses her to prevent Lippy and Slug from learning about his deception. Lilli and Bill walk in on the scene and become furious.

In order to keep Lilli from leaving, Slug and Lippy appear on stage, disguised as Petruchio's servants. They have no acting ability, but still manage to amuse the audience. Petruchio sets about "taming the shrew", but later reminisces about his days of philandering ("Where Is The Life That Late I Led?").

During the play's intermission, when Tex arrives to rescue Lilli from the theatre, he is recognized by Lois, with whom he once went on a date. When Bill is angered by Lois' behavior, she admits that though she loves Bill, she cannot resist the advances of other men ("Always True To You In My Fashion").

The gambling debt is cancelled by the untimely death of Slug and Lippy's boss, so they stop interfering with Lilli's mid-performance departure from the theatre. Fred tells her that she truly belongs in theatre, and also reveals his true feelings for her. She departs anyway, with some remorse, leaving a dejected Fred to be cheered up by Slug and Lippy ("Brush Up Your Shakespeare").

The final act of the stage play begins, with Bianca marrying Lucentio. The rejected suitors, Gremio and Hortensio, meet two new girls ("From This Moment On"). At the finale, the show is temporarily halted when Lilli's understudy goes missing. Suddenly, Lilli reappears on stage, delivering Kate's speech about how women should surrender to their husbands ("I'm Ashamed That Women Are So Simple"). Fred is bowled over, and the play reaches its triumphant finale ("Kiss Me Kate"), with Fred and Lilli back together as a real couple.

Musical numbers

Reception

The movie had a mostly positive reception. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called Kiss Me Kate "one of the year's more magnificent musical films ... a beautifully staged, adroitly acted and really superbly sung affair—better, indeed, if one may say so, than the same frolic was on the stage."^[5] Variety opened its positive review by stating: "Metro's reputation for turning out top calibre musical pictures is further enhanced with 'Kiss Me Kate.' It's Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' done over in eminently satisfying fashion via a collaboration of superior song, dance and comedy talents."^[6] Harrison's Reports called it "a lively and highly entertaining blend of comedy, music, dancing and romance."^[7] John McCarten of The New Yorker was more dismissive, writing that it "does have some engaging tunes, but the book of the original has been so thoroughly laundered that little of the comedy, which ran to fairly bawdy stuff, remains, and Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, as a bickering theatrical pair compelled to play opposite each other in Shakespeare, are lacking in vital juices."^[8] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post disliked the changes made to the stage version such as the reduction of "Another Op'nin" and "I'm Ashamed That Women Are So Simple," calling the film "a grand musical with lots of pleasures to recommend it. But if you're familiar with what they had to work with, you'll not be enthusiastic, a form of criticism with which not all agree, but in this case I don't see how it's to be avoided."^[9] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The execution generally—sets, costumes, dance numbers, the Cole Porter songs—is pleasing, but the direction lacks flair and the film seems somewhat over-long."^[10]

Although Kiss Me Kate is often referred to as the first 3-D musical, Those Redheads From Seattle, also a 3-D musical, was released by Paramount Pictures on October 16.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $2,011,000 in the US and Canada and $1,106,000 elsewhere, meaning a worldwide gross of $3,117,000, resulting in a gross profit of $1,136,000.^[15] However, due to high production costs, it incurred a loss of $544,000.^[2]

Punctuation

References

1. ^{{cite web |url=http://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50905#3 |title=Kiss Me Kate - Details |last= |first= |date= |website=AFI Catalog of Feature Films |publisher= |accessdate=June 22, 2018 }}
2. ^¹²{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.
3. ^'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954', Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955, correcting 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1953', Variety, January 13, 1954
4. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/film/070700kate-film-review.html |title=Young Fosse, Vintage 'Kate' |publisher=Nytimes.com |date=2000-07-07 |accessdate=2012-07-05}}
5. ^{{cite journal |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=November 6, 1953 |title=The Screen In Review |url= |journal=The New York Times |location= |publisher= |page=23 |accessdate= }}
6. ^{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=October 28, 1953 |title=Kiss Me Kate |url= |journal=Variety |location= |publisher= |page=6 |accessdate= }}
7. ^{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=October 31, 1953 |title='Kiss Me Kate' with Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and Ann Miller |url= |journal=Harrison's Reports |location= |publisher= |page=174 |accessdate= }}
8. ^{{cite journal |last=McCarten |first=John |date=November 14, 1953 |title=The Current Cinema |url= |journal=The New Yorker |location= |publisher= |page=136 |accessdate= }}
9. ^{{cite journal |last=Coe |first=Richard L. |date=November 27, 1953 |title='Kiss Me, Kate' Is 3-D'ed at Capitol |url= |journal=The Washington Post |location= |publisher= |page=22 |accessdate= }}
10. ^{{cite journal |last= |first= |date=March 1954 |title=Kiss Me Kate |url= |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |location= |volume=21 |issue=242 |publisher= |pages=40–41 |accessdate= }}
11. ^{{cite web|last=Crowther |first=Bosley |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F00E1DF1139E23BBC4E53DFB7678388649EDE |title=Movie Review - Kiss Me Kate - THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; ' Kiss Me Kate,' an Inviting Film Adaptation of Stage Hit, Has Debut at the Music Hall - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=1953-11-06 |accessdate=2012-07-05}}
12. ^{{cite web|author=George Perry Updated 17 January 2001 |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/01/17/kiss_me_kate_1953_review.shtml |title=Films - review - Kiss Me Kate |publisher=BBC |date=2001-01-17 |accessdate=2012-07-05}}
13. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117792356?refcatid=31 |title=Variety Reviews - Kiss Me Kate - Film Reviews - - Review by Variety Staff |publisher=Variety.com |date=1952-12-31 |accessdate=2012-07-05}}
14. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/6164/kiss-me-kate/ |title=Kiss Me Kate : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video |publisher=Dvdtalk.com |date= |accessdate=2012-07-05}}
15. ^Sheldon Hall, Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History Wayne State University Press, 2010 p 147