The Taming of the Shrew is based on a play by Shakespeare in which a wealthy nobleman named Baptista (Michael Hordern) has two daughters he needs to marry off. The first, Bianca (Natasha Pyne), is beautiful as well as good-natured; the second daughter, however, is named Katherine (Elizabeth Taylor), and she is a seemingly incorrigible harridan. Bianca should find it easy to wed because she has many suitors, but her father declares that he will not let the sweet younger girl marry until her alarming sister is taken off his hands. Enter the crude fortune hunter Petruchio (Richard Burton), who is willing to accept the challenge of “taming” Katherine in order to acquire the money attached to her. Meanwhile, Hortensio (Victor Spinetti), Gremio (Cyril Cusack), and Lucentio (Michael York) scheme to acquire Bianca’s favors.