Summertime (1955)

I originally saw this film on the small screen many years ago and recently had the chance to see on the big screen and am so happy that I did. It really is a visual delight. The story is solid and handled at what I find a languid, leisurely summertime pace. Venice really is stunning but one of my visually favorite scenes is when Kate's character, Jane Hudson arrives at her pensione and is shown her room for the first time, there's something about her room that I find kind of magical and in which I would like to stay myself. I'm a little torn regarding how I feel about Hepburn's performance though. There are scenes where her acting feels mannered, and others where she is quite aggressive in her performance. Yet on the other hand I think she, and the film, does a good job in expressing the challenges one deals with as a solo traveller. I also have to admit there were times when I asked myself how someone as attractive and suave as the Rosanno Brazzi character could find someone as cold and uptight as Jane Hudson appealing. The films ending was interesting and appropriate and one that is true to the character of Jane Hudson. Despite some reservations/questions, I really, really enjoyed this film and am certain that I will see it again at some point in my future.

Katharine Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for the sixth time for her role in Summertime. In short, it's a summer romance between a middle-aged straight-laced American spinster and a hot-blooded Italian. After all, the only circumstances in which a woman would even think of becoming involved with a foreigner would be when she's in a foreign land surrounded by foreigners and no one back home could find out, right? Even from the premise, I found the story a bit politically incorrect, and as the film progressed, I found it more stereotypical than entertaining.Kate the spinster starts out taking a timid vacation in Venice. She doesn't let her hair down until she meets Rossano Brazzi, a kind, handsome, respectful shop owner. He doesn't paw her or ogle her as the other Italians have, and she's drawn to him. Then, of course, when the romance starts, his passionate nature—because he's an Italian, you know—inspires her own hidden passion. In this Italian vacation, infidelity runs rampant, and the cultural differences are pounded into the audience's head. There's a little street urchin who harasses the tourists and tries to scam them out of their money, a character that puts the icing on the cake that isn't particularly respectful to the Italian nationality.If you love movies that show off on-location scenery, there are lots of other films that you can watch. Try Three Coins in the Fountain or A Room with a View for glorious Italian surroundings. Yes, Summertime was filmed in Italy, but the most entertaining souvenir that was picked up was Katharine Hepburn's lifelong eye infection after falling into the filthy canals during filming.

"Summertime" is one of the best films of the 1950s when it comes to its cinematography. The film is simply gorgeous and it creates an amazingly romanticized view of Venice. The colors, camera-work and setting all work together to create a real work of art. So, in this sense, it is a great film. It also creates a very romantic world with its actors (Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi) and the lovely music. Again, all what you'd like for a great film. However, the film suffers when it comes to the story--and I seem to be in the distinct minority on this one after I read through the reviews.Hepburn is well-cast as a spinster American who has come to Venice. She has romantic visions in her mind but she also turns out to be very, very lonely. After all, what joy is there in this city if you have no one with which to share it? However, she meets a very handsome man (Brazzi--who is perhaps too handsome for the part to be believable) and he eventually sweeps her off her feet and they have a very brief encounter (some pun intended). The problem is that he's already married--and this is the huge problem I have with the film. In "Summertime" you are expected to care about the characters and empathize with them. But, in real life, if you were the wife or knew the folks, would you be so quick to see this affair as something good? Sure, Brazzi SAYS he and his wife live apart, but I assume most cheaters use this or some similar excuse to justify their behaviors. The bottom line is that the film looks great, is magnificently directed by David Lean and is about a couple selfish jerks! I just cannot get past that. I also cannot get past Criterion's decision to have no captions on the DVD--that I cannot understand (especially since my daughter is deaf and I am a bit hard of hearing).

Katharine Hepburn isn't the most overrated movie actress, and she certainly wasn't the worst. But she definitely could be too mannered for her own good. Witness her 1955 Oscar-nominated performance in this David Lean film.Playing a middle-aged single woman who comes to Venice in search of "mystery", and maybe a man to go with it, she pushes up her chin, clenches her teeth in an unconvincing smile, and calls everyone younger than her "cookie" to show she's hip...or something. Then when she finally meets the man (Rossano Brazzi), she can't get away from him fast enough.His line of woo is really one for the ages: "Eat the ravioli, my dear girl. You are hungry.""I'm not THAT hungry.""We're all that hungry.""Summertime" is a marvelous slide show in motion brilliantly featuring one of the world's most beautiful cities. But it never comes together as anything compelling. Lean leans on the superlative work of his cinematographer, Jack Hildyard, in lieu of story or characters.All we know about Kate's character, Jane Hudson, going in is that she's a private secretary who talks in capital letters, like: "I'm From Akron, Ohio, How Do You Do?". We know less about Brazzi's character, except that he sells possibly suspicious antiques and feels something for Jane. When they come together, we get Rossini, fireworks, and not much else other than an abrupt ending. Hey, I wasn't complaining too much. I just wanted it to be over.The secondary characters are even more from hunger. You get the McIlhennys, an American couple as pungent and unsubtle as the sauce they were no doubt named after. There's a painter, his patiently suffering wife, and a maid who sings like she should be on stage, not dusting blinds.Hildyard's brilliance nearly makes up for much. His camera-work captures a lot of amazing colors and detail, as well as a nice sense of dimensionality, like the way Jane's upper-story window looks down on the canals below. At one point, Hepburn even manages a natural line delivery of a good line: "In America, every female under 50 calls herself a girl...after, who cares?"Mostly Hepburn underlines and undermines her character's every emotion, squeezing already-overbaked dialogue too hard, like this consecutive series of lines to Brazzi: "Why did you do that? Oh, I don't think I want to see you again! I love you!" Even before the hugging and kissing starts, she makes sure you get her character's loneliness in every scene, tearing up and grimacing whenever she sees an affectionate couple pass her by on the Piazza San Marco. Lean doesn't help matters. When she meets Brazzi in his store for the first time, Lean makes sure to insert a harp glissando at the moment of their eye contact, in case you don't get the point something really big just happened.Love is a special thing. But you can gild the lily too much even in its service, and gild it even more for a big abrupt sad ending utterly wrong for the characters. Lean and Hepburn were movie legends, and justly so, but "Summertime" reminds you why they have detractors, too.