Summertime 1955

     This film is an adaptation of the Broadway play, The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents.  The play was also later adapted as a Broadway musical called, Do I Hear A Waltz.  Jane Hudson has traveled from Akron, Ohio to Venice, Italy for her dream vacation.  Jane is a middle-aged secretary and an independent type of personality.  She doesn’t mind vacationing alone.  She meets Mr. and Mrs. McIlhenny and they are also from America.  They have a set literary and they have done a lot of traveling.  Mrs. McIlhenny can speak Italian.  Jane finds the city of Venice very beautiful but she does feel lonely.  She meets Renato de Rossi and he is an antique shop owner.  She doesn’t realize this is going to happen but they fall in love.

     There is a lot of back and forth between Jane and Renato.  She likes him and then she hates him.  She thinks he’s untrustworthy and then she thinks he is not trustworthy.  This is the part of the film I didn’t like.  The city is beautiful but the characters are not very developed and you don’t feel a connection.  The back and forth becomes wearying.  I did think Katharine Hepburn was interesting as an actress, especially her way of speaking and her mannerisms.  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

100 min, Romance directed by David Lean with Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Isa Miranda, Darren McGavin, Mari Aldon, Jane Rose, MacDonald Parke, Jeremy Spenser, Gaetano Autiero, Virginia Simeon.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 93% critic 80% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 150 reviews.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Camp San Barnaba, Venice, Veneto, Italy, St. Mark’s Square, Venice, Veneto, Italy and Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK.  Hepburn was very impressed with the director, David Lean.  She thought he had a gift for photography and he had super concentration.  He was one of the most interesting directors she worked with.