Kiss Me Kate, 1964 – ★★★½

Charming piece of early television, this musical, starring Howard Keel (who of course starred in the Hollywood film) and Patricia Morison (who was the lead in the original stage production, later filmed for US television). They are joined by Millicent Martin, an English singer best known at that time from That Was The Week That Was, a satirical television programme.

Clocking in at just 95 minutes, this loses a few snippets of dialogue and a song or two, but good to see Brush Up Your Shakespeare, for one, has survived (with a pre-Last of the Summer Wine Bill Owen as one of the gangsters). Keel and Morison are fascinating to see together even in a muddy archive copy of this, and for lovers of the musical this is a version to seek out (as is the shorter US TV version with Morison and Alfred Drake).

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