Summertime

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charliechaplinfan
Posts: 9040
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 9:49 am

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I suppose too it's a film that speaks to an audience that has lived a little. Are children/teenagers enthralled with a film about love in an older generation.

I can see why you would remember the opening and closing sequences. Venice plays a huge part in this film.

I couldn't have done that stunt 100 times and get it right, I'd never want to have fallen into the canals of Venice however much I was paid.

Carrying on my Katharine Hepburn theme I watched Suddenly Last Summer. It had 3 things going for it for me, Kate, Montgomery Clift and Tennessee Williams.

I think the script was quite good despite the restrictions of what it could and couldn't say. It is quite wordy, I like that.

Katharine Hepburn's performance was again a revelation to me. I know from previous reading that she was somewhat dissappointed with the script and didn't fully understand the implications before she signed on. I find this difficult to believe of Kate. It isn't a film that's going to be without it's detractors because of the subject matter.

Montgomery Clift is good as the doctor. I've never completely got to grips with him. He doesn't wow me like Brando does in some of his performances. He wears a pained expression, a lived in look, perhaps from the car accident he suffered a couple of years previously. I've never seen him give a bad performance. In Young Lions I think he stole the film.

Elizabeth Taylor, I'm never going to be a fan I'm afraid, I find her far too shrill and can't see the little something extra that others see apart from a fabulous figure. She was the only flaw in the film for me.

I like Tennessee Williams adaptations, I think I've seen them all apart from The Rose Tattoo. I don't think he's the best playwright of his era (perhaps this is Arthur Miller, I love him too) but he's never dull.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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traceyk
Posts: 294
Joined: May 25th, 2007, 11:59 am
Location: Ohio

Post by traceyk »

I liked this film too (Suddenly Last Summer), though I always feel like I need to watch something with puppies and kittens afterward. I agree that Elizabeth Taylor isn't all that amazing in this, but then I've never been too impressed by her. Maybe if I'd seen Butterfield Eight or Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe I'd be more impressed? Anyway, my favorite performance in this film is the money grubbing cousin played by Mercedes McCambridge. The scene with McCambridge, Hepburn and Gary Raymond is priceless.
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. "~~Wilde
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