MovieChat Forums > Kiss Me Kate (1953) Discussion > Major continuity confusion?

Major continuity confusion?

posted 18 years ago by Mr_Wentworth-Brewster
13 replies | jump to latest

I loved the film, great performance from Kathryn Grayson!

My question is: the scene where Keel describes what will Grayson's following life be, then Whitmore faints and than Grayson sends eveyone away. The camera follows them leaving the dressing room and then it follows Grayson's fiancee going downstairs where he meets Ann Miller. On the background we clearly hear So in love.
Now: shouldn't it be sung by Keel and Grayson? But none of them could be at this point on stage!

Am I right or has my version missing some scenes?

[–] ijonesiii 18 years ago

Your point is valid but it might have just been set change music.

[–] Mr_Wentworth-Brewster 18 years ago

I think you clearly hear the voices, but it doesn't matter. The film's great, I was just wondering whether it was my imagination or what;oD.

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

This has always been the trouble with KISS ME KATE. At a certain point, you just have to abandon the thought of a performance going on in front of all the backstage activity.

[–] movieghoul 15 years ago

I agree, like the scene where Ann and the boys are dancing in front of a curtain to "Bianca" (a song that was otherwise cut out of the film) and they cut to the backstage action. Always makes me wonder why they would have such a lame scene in the show.

[–] IAAL 18 years ago

Another major continuity confusion, not in the movie, but in the underlying musical. So, there's the "play within the play," which is the actual musical-comedy version of Taming of the Shrew, featuring such Shrew-appropriate songs as "I've Come to Wive it Wealthily in Padua" (a line from the actual Shakespeare play, incidentally) and "Where is the Life?" And then we have the "outer" play, the one about lives of the actors who are putting on the "inner" play, featuring such outer-play-appropriate songs as "Why Can't You Behave?" and "Always True to You Darling in my Fashion." So far so good.

So where does that leave "We Open in Venice"? The "outer" play is set in New York; the actor characters presumably open in New Haven. The "inner" play is set in Italy, all right, but there aren't any actors in it and it's not about a performing company. So who, exactly, is supposed to be opening in Venice? This point has bugged me since my dad used to play (interminably!) the original cast recording when I was about six. I realize that it's not good to be overly analytical about classic Broadway musicals, but this point seems pretty glaring to me.

[–] Mr_Wentworth-Brewster 18 years ago

Have you read the original Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew? The whole plot is actually performed by a troupe of actors for british villagers in a pub. That is what the song "We open in Venice" is about. However, the actors in the original Shakespeare version do, in fact, perform in Britain, so they probably wouldn't "open in Venice" - yet, I believe your question has been answered. This minor change (Britain to Italy) was probably made by Cole Porter because "We open in Liecester" doesn't sound half as good;oD.

"Life is full of censorship. I can't spit in your eye." - Katharine Hepburn

[–] freesharon 18 years ago

I always assumed the actors were putting on a play about actors putting on a play, so it was three layers deep instead of two. Never noticed that the location didn't match Shakespeare's; it just seemed to make sense that the Americans were playing Italian actors performing a play about Italian people.

[–] justoldbill 18 years ago

If one wanted to rip away at everything, it's really Sam and Bella Spewack's version of the Lunts doing SHREW.

[–] freesharon 18 years ago

Thanks, that's really the kind of stuff I come here to find. The history and the people.

[–] stormclouduk 17 years ago

I've just finished watched this, fantastic movie by the way, and it is not So in Love that you hear in the background during this scene. It's Were Thine That Special Face and it sounds like a chorus singing it.

[–] Isaac5855 16 years ago

You're absolutely correct...some other music should have been used during that scene. I do agree with you about Kathryn Grayson too...I think this film features her finest performance.

[–] lookout2 16 years ago

im trying out for the part of bill...how big is his part..would you say its satisfactory for one going for a lead?? thanks

[–] Isaac5855 16 years ago

I think Bill Calhoun would be considered a supporting character, but I guess in terms of leads vs chorus, he would be considered a lead.