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Summertime (1955)

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43 comments in total

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24 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Fragile bittersweet romance amid gorgeous Italian settings..., 3 June 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

"Summertime" is more of a mood piece than anything else. It captures the loneliness of a traveler in a foreign land, in this case a spinster who is hungry for love but too repressed to accept the love Rossano Brazzi offers. It has a bittersweet ending, appropriate for a thin story that sets the tone early on and never once makes us believe that Hepburn is going to find her true love in Venice.

The photography is gorgeous and must have had everyone heading for the nearest travel bureau for a tour of Italy when the film was released. The performances are all excellent--but the film belongs to Hepburn. She creates one of her most moving and truthful portraits--sensitively showing us what this woman feels as she watches others pairing off for affairs, alone and unable to really connect. The sexual mores of the 1950s permeate the film--the sexual revolution was just over the horizon but not yet evident.

One of Hepburn's most subtle, yet affecting performances. With David Lean's sensitive direction, the gorgeous photography and the evocative background music, "Summertime" will put you under the spell of its fragile romance. Easy to see why Brazzi was the ultimate continental charmer.

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20 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
Venezia in Summer: Magic!, 30 July 2002

Author: gaityr from United Kingdom

A few weeks ago, I spent a summer day in Venice and was reminded of what a beautiful, magical place it is (I'd spent a few days there on vacation previously). I remember thinking at the time that no matter how many photos I took, I would never be able to capture its essence--the twisting little alleys shielded by towering brick walls, the staggeringly lovely architecture scattered through piazzas, the feel of walking on water as gondolas drift by below you--Venice is about life, living, love. It didn't seem possible to me that all that could ever be effectively captured on film.

In filming SUMMERTIME, David Lean has come as close as anyone ever will to capturing the feel and atmosphere of the magical city. While watching the film for the first time, I felt almost as if I were walking through the streets of Venice myself, all the colour and noise and beauty intact. All the little things were there, the places visited, the things done (taking a water bus, or washing one's face in the springs to keep cool)... It helps that I can recognise the monuments from personal experience, of course, but the photography is so lush, and the attention to detail so great (there is one scene of several set in the Piazza San Marco in which an entire flock of pigeons take wing in the background--it is so breathtaking that one feels it must have been choreographed) that you really are taking Jane Hudson's journey with her. That, for a moment that lasts through the film, you are part of that world, part of David Lean's Venice. I only wish I had the opportunity to see this film on the big screen, to be able to experience the cinematography the way it was meant to be experienced.

The plot of the film is itself somewhat weak. Katharine Hepburn plays a lonely spinster, Jane Hudson, who has saved and saved all her life to finally make her dream trip come true. It turns out to be a dream trip in more ways than one, for she soon meets and falls in love with Renato di Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), a married shopkeeper with several children. They share a few dizzying, intimate days together, but Jane eventually has to make a choice between her heart and her mind.

A great part of the film is involved in setting up Jane as a desperately lonely figure, and therefore the love affair itself, though sweet, feels rushed through. (When intimacy *is* created, however, it is startlingly touching. Take for example the scene on the island of Burado, or when Renato buys Jane her first flower.) What makes the romance more tangible and believable to the viewer is the skill of the performers involved--you truly hurt from the aching loneliness Katharine Hepburn sneaks into every corner of her Jane Hudson, from the way she holds herself when she sits, to the slightly pained eyes and tightly crossed arms--her defences when she realises how alone she really is, even amidst the noise and bustle of the city. You feel sorry for her when she pretends that she is waiting for someone, positioning the chair just so and placing her own coffee before it, just to not appear entirely pathetic to her friends from the Penzione Fiorini. Hepburn manages to pull this off while also infusing Jane with an almost child-like desire to find a little magic for herself, a miracle in the form of a summer romance.

Rossano Brazzi too is excellent at walking that fine line between charm and smarm, because you never really know whether his intentions towards Jane are good or not-largely due to the revelation regarding his status as a family man. Perhaps for this reason the romance between Jane and Renato seems a bit forced for the purposes of finishing the tale David Lean set out to tell, but there is to be no denying that Hepburn and Brazzi do have great chemistry together.

SUMMERTIME isn't the kind of movie you'd recommend to *all* of your friends and constantly badger them until they've seen it and can talk to you about it. It's the kind of film you tell a select few people about, people you feel will appreciate it and understand it, and will connect with it like you do. That, perhaps, is its own special little magic.

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15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
A visual feast, 23 June 2001
Author: Nicholas Rhodes from Ile-de-France / Paris Region, France

I have watched this film tens of times. I have never seen a city filmed so beautifully as Venice in this film. The photography is smooth, and travelling shots just perfect. The sights, the sounds and above all the haunting music of the film are just something else. Apart from the title theme " Summertime in Venice ", I have never managed to find the rest of the music on a cd or LP. The weather was obviously anticyclonic and perfect when they shot the film and the colours are unbeatable. I found it on DVD ( Criterion ) but if the picture quality is perfect, there are no subtitles, other language tracks or bonus features, all of which is a great shame considering the film is so beautiful.

The plot is thin, Hepburn's reactions of a frustrated spinster are annoying at times and the film's end is unsatisfying either way. But these negative points will not stop me from watching again and again this film. It is pure 1950's gold. I wonder whether Venice today has

the same charm as in the film .............

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14 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Andante cantabile, 5 April 2000

Author: harry-76 from Cleveland, Ohio

The mood is leisurly, the pace deliberate, and the look of Venice is shimmering and magical. This "brief encounter" of an American spinster on vacation falling for a married, though separated, man is David Lean as his best. It is also one of Katherine Hepburn's lovely performances. Having read about production problems with this film, it became all the more remarkable to watch. To name a few, Hepburn suffered severe eye damage from her spill in the stagnant canal (in a remarkable shot without use of a double) and the stench from the waters aggravated ailments left over from her previous "African Queen." Also her private life during the filming mirrored the quiet desparation of the heroine, due to personal circumstances. Yet all of this is amazingly hidden through the skill of Director Lean and his camera crew. It's a Hepburn "spinster" role she played many times ("Alice Adams," "The Rainmaker") and no one could do it as convincingly. "Summertime" is a kind of film they don't make any more--and for good reason: they couldn't top it. Nor is there a "Hepburn" today able to carry a full production like this on her shoulders as effectively as this legendary actress.

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Superb!, 28 August 2006

Author: Andrew Kenyon from United Kingdom

What a gem of a film this is!

Katharine Hepburn, David Lean, 1950's fashion and Venice herself. A bitter-sweet romantic comedy this film has all the right ingredients and takes you back to a time when Hollywood was still making movies that were a joy to watch and showed the stars and directors at their best.

Katharine Hepburn is at her very best here. Forget all the Tracy/Hepburn movies. Here she is allowed to shine. Here we see the comedy of "Bringing up Baby" honed down to a look here, a gesture there. She was 48 when she made this film but never looked lovelier and Lean photographs her in glorious technicolour so that her freckled face and auburn hair radiate off the screen. These, together with her spunky personality capture the eye (and heart) of Renato di Rossi (well played by Rossano Brazzi - eleven years KH's junior) and they work so well together. She as the lonely spinster experiencing love for the first time. He the married man flirting the holiday romance. Or is he?

The minor characters are a foil to the main action (rather like those in Brief Encounter) and work well.

A touching story. Well played, beautifully shot and still a tear-jerker some fifty years after its release. Hepburn missed out on the Oscar for this to Anna Magnini (who she?) for The Rose Tattoo(what that?) but hey, who needs an the Academy vote when you've got a team like this?

Highly recommended but have your Kleenex ready.

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Shimmering Venice, 20 January 2008

Author: drednm

David Lean's film version of the Arthur Laurents play, THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO, which starred Shirley Booth, is a shimmering and beautiful valentine set in Venice, but one with a touch of realism.

Katharine Hepburn stars as a mousy secretary from Akron who saves for years to have an adventure. She's a spunky and self-sufficient gal who yearns to find love. She arrives in Venice and is immediately under the city's spell even though she's always running into the crass couple from Illinois. As she wanders the city, she's befriended by a tough little boy who is savvy in the way of tourists and thievery.

She spots a man (Rossano Brazzi) several times in San Marco plaza and one day wanders into his shop to buy a red goblet. She is stunned that the owner is the same man. He pursues her but her puritanical streak flares up when she discovers he is married.

As the weeks pass she discovers all sorts of seamy thing about the owner of the pensione (Isa Miranda) and other guests (Darren McGavin, Mari Aldon) and even herself and what's she's willing to settle for.

The ending at the train station is beautifully shot and justifiably famous. Indeed the entire film is an eyeful of beauty, and Venice, with its canals, bridges, and ancient towers is breathtaking. The film also contains the famous scene where Hepburn falls into the canal. In Kevin Brownlow's biography of Lean, the director admits that there were nets in the water to prevent Hepburn from sinking to the bottom of the canal which was full of garbage.

This is a stunningly beautiful film with a slim story that nevertheless boasts great performances from Hepburn and Brazzi. The supporting cast is also very good, including Jane Rose and MacDonald Parke as the tourists, Jeremy Spencer as Brazzi's son, Andre Morell as the man on the train, and Gaetano Autiero as the street kid.

Hepburn won an Oscar nomination.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
I live in Venice.. And all I can say is that it's delightful, 12 September 2003

Author: Marco Busato (marco.venezia@email.it) from Venice, Italy

I've seen this movie quite a few times on televison, but during the 2003 60th Venice Film Festival I had the opportunity to see it on a big, big screen in a brand new copy.

Well, miss Hepburn's acting is breath taking, one of the few times she incarnates a woman so vulnerable, and she does it to perfection. And the tone and mood of the entire pic, while a little bit too "touristic", are absolutely sweet and romantic. I live in Venice, and can surely say that seeing what's on screen, I'm sure David Lean did fall in love with this city

Only one minor (really minor) flair: some scenes were filmed in winter, not in summer, since the Moors of San Marco Square's clock only appear once a year, at Christmas time (and seeing the movie on a big screen, it was possible to notice that while the Moors were striking the hours, people on the back ground, although out of focus, were wearing coats and furs)..

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
A breezy good time, 8 April 2003

Author: MasterMinogue from San Diego

Wow, this film is just a great time! Having "holidayed" a lot on my own, I could relate to Jane in Venice. You can see yourself in Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of the lonely spinster. This movie is so entertaining, I had a smile on my face the entire time.

Wonderful views of Venice, tour de force performances by the leads,

Summertime is a great movie to sit back with a glass of wine & just enjoy.

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11 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Let's clear this up:, 6 August 2001

Author: Tom (satnitcboy) from NY NY

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.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the finest love stories I've ever seen., 26 August 2001

Author: (donezio@msn.com) from Seattle, WA

Ms. Hepburn portrayed the many stages of love so convincingly that it is difficult to remember it's just a movie.

One of the most appealing aspects of this film is that both she and her co-star are in their middle years. Their ability to show the blossom of new love and all the "ubbly, bubbly" feelings/emotions that go along with it are excellent examples of great acting.

These days, Hollywood seems to believe that only teen or pre-teen love stories have any box-office appeal. For the most part, the acting is secondary to the amount of skin they reveal throughout the flick.

If you haven't seen this movie in the past 10 years, it's definitely a film to check-out again.

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