Summertime (1955)

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Arthur Laurents (play)
H.E. Bates (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

14 August 1955 (Japan)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Tagline:

It Happens to Hepburn - It Happens in Venice!

Plot:

A lonely American woman unexpectedly finds romance in Venice, Italy.

Plot Keywords:

Venice Italy | Secretary | American | Camera | Gift

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Jane Hudson
Rossano Brazzi	...	Renato de Rossi
Isa Miranda	...	Signora Fiorini
Darren McGavin	...	Eddie Yaeger
Mari Aldon	...	Phyl Yaeger
Jane Rose	...	Mrs. McIlhenny
MacDonald Parke	...	Mr. McIlhenny
Jeremy Spenser	...	Vito de Rossi
Gaetano Autiero	...	Mauro
Virginia Simeon	...	Giovanna
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Lean	...	Man at Café (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Tanya Lopert	...	Teenage Girl (uncredited)
André Morell	...	Englishman (uncredited)

Directed by
David Lean

Writing credits
Arthur Laurents		(play "The Time of the Cuckoo")
H.E. Bates		(screenplay) &
David Lean		(screenplay)
Donald Ogden Stewart		uncredited

Produced by
Ilya Lopert	....	producer
Norman Spencer	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Alessandro Cicognini

Cinematography by
Jack Hildyard

Film Editing by
Peter Taylor

Production Design by
Vincent Korda

Makeup Department
Grazia De Rossi	....	hairdressing (as Gracia de Rossi)
Cesare Gambarelli	....	makeup artist (as Cesare Gamberelli)

Production Management
Raymond Anzarut	....	production manager
Franco Magli	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Alberto Cardone	....	assistant director
Adrian Pryce-Jones	....	assistant director

Art Department
Ferdinand Bellan	....	assistant art director
William Hutchinson	....	assistant art director (as Bill Hutchinson)
Italo Tomassi	....	manager of art department (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Cox	....	sound re-recordist
Peter Handford	....	sound recordist
Winston Ryder	....	sound editor
Jacqueline Thiédot	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Archie Dansie	....	chief electrician
Peter Newbrook	....	camera operator

Other crew
Walter Fried	....	presenter: Broadway
Robert J. Kingsley	....	assistant to producer
Maggie Unsworth	....	continuity (as Margaret Shipway)
Robert Whitehead	....	presenter: Broadway
Walter Fried	....	producer: original stage production (uncredited)
Robert Whitehead	....	producer: original stage production (uncredited)

Production Companies

• London Film Productions

Distributors

• Independent Film Distributors (IFD) (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1955) (USA) (theatrical) (released thru)
• United Artists (1955) (France) (theatrical) (as Les Artistes Associés)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1976) (USA) (TV)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (1997) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

UK:99 min | USA:100 min | Argentina:102 min | West Germany:100 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Australia:PG | New Zealand:PG | UK:PG | Finland:S | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Campo San Barnaba, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company:

London Film Productions

Trivia:

The number of tourists traveling to Venice doubled after the film's release.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of wine in Di Rossi's glass when he first sees Jane - the glass is empty, then full.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (2000) (V)

Soundtrack:

Overture to 'La Gazza Ladra'

Let's clear this up:

As someone who has viewed Summertime 5 or 6 times a year for its beauty alone, I can clear up a few questions: Jane Hudson has come to Venice for a relatively short vacation for which "she has waited such a long time" and "saved for so very long." She's a "fancy secretary" she says. It's easy to surmise from the action of the film that she is spending somewhere between one and two weeks in Venice. (They meet, she resists, she gives in, the go off for a weekend on the isle of Burano.)She's not rich and neither is he.

As for Renato's attraction to the prim Jane: first it's her ankle and calf, when he spots her at the cafe in Piazza San Marco. Next, it's her awkward shyness when she catches him looking at her. He is absolutely ga-ga over her "innocence" and sets his sights on the conquest. (The two of them play this nearly wordless scene brilliantly. I'd think anybody with a soul and two eyes would get it.)Then, naturally, when his heat is turned onto her and she blooms, he can't get enough.

She was 48 and he 39 when the film was released.