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The Rose Tattoo (1955) More at IMDbPro »


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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   1,247 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 8% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Tennessee Williams (play)
Hal Kanter (adaptation)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Rose Tattoo on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1956 (Brazil) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Her blood boiled with desire...raged with jealous fury! more
Plot:
An Italian-American neighborhood in Louisiana is disturbed when truck driver Rosario Delle Rose is killed by police while smuggling... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 3 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations more
User Comments:
The Great Anna Magnani more (25 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Anna Magnani ... Serafina Delle Rose

Burt Lancaster ... Alvaro Mangiacavallo
Marisa Pavan ... Rosa Delle Rose
Ben Cooper ... Seaman Jack Hunter
Virginia Grey ... Estelle Hohengarten
Jo Van Fleet ... Bessie
Sandro Giglio ... Father De Leo

Mimi Aguglia ... Assunta
Florence Sundstrom ... Flora
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Additional Details

Runtime:
117 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Though the script places the location in a small Mississippi Gulf town, exteriors were shot in Key West. When scouting for locations, a perfect fit was found for the exterior of the house owned by Serafina Delle Rose on Duncan Street. A fence indicating a goat paddock was needed next door and the crew was worried the owner may object to the filming nearby and the addition of a ramshackle fence on his property. They needn't have worried - the house and property next door at 1431 Ducan was the home that Tennessee Williams shared with his lover Frank Merlo himself who happily agreed to its use even inviting Magnani (close friends of Merlo and Williams) and Lancaster to use it as their dressing rooms. In later years, Williams had an enormous mosaic of a rose tattoo embedded in the floor of the pool behind the house, which is still there today. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Padri e figli (1957) more
Soundtrack:
OUT OF NOWHERE more

FAQ

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful.
The Great Anna Magnani, 9 June 2005
10/10
Author: drednm

The Rose Tattoo is a solid film with terrific performances by 3 Oscar winners: Anna Magnani, Burt Lancaster, and Jo Van Fleet. Magnani landed the film version after Maureen Stapleton had originated the part on Broadway, and she is terrific as the smouldering Italian woman whose husband is killed when he is caught smuggling. The Tennessee Williams play touches on the usual ingredients of sexual repression and denial and hypocrisy. After years of mourning the dead husband (the Baron), Magnani finally gives in to sexual urges (with Lancaster) only after the swarm of village women (a pack of Italian harpy hags that acts as a Greek Chorus) convince her that the husband had been unfaithful. The subplot involves the purity of the daughter who is dating an equally pure sailor (Marisa Pavan and Ben Cooper). The subplot is boring. Lancaster is good as the simpleton truck driver who serves as the double for the dead husband, right down to the rose tattoo on his chest. Another rose tattoo shows up on the chest of the husband's floozie girl friend (nicely played by Virginia Grey), which serves as the "proof" Magnani needs to finally believe her husband's cheating. Lots of symbolism and circular plots, but the bottom line is the excellence of the acting. Magnani won a well-deserved Oscar for this film. Her scenes with Lancaster are electric. And Van Fleet is super as the shrieking customer (Magnani is a seamstress); it's no coincidence that Van Fleet won the supporting actress Oscar that year for East of Eden, since her performance in The Rose Tattoo is a world apart from that film. And yes Tennessee Williams can be glimpsed as a barfly at the Mardi Gras Club.

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