The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

José Quintero

Writers:

Gavin Lambert (writer)
Jan Read (additional writing)
(more)

Release Date:

28 December 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Critics and the public say Karen Stone is too old -- as she approaches 50 -- for her role in a play she is about to take to Broadway...

Plot Keywords:

Rome | Widow | Passion | Affection | Italian

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Vivien Leigh	...	Karen Stone
Warren Beatty	...	Paolo di Leo
Coral Browne	...	Meg
Jill St. John	...	Barbara Bingham
Jeremy Spenser	...	Young man
Stella Bonheur	...	Mrs. Jamison-Walker
Josephine Brown	...	Lucia
Peter Dyneley	...	Lloyd Greener
Carl Jaffe	...	Baron Waldheim
Harold Kasket	...	Tailor
Viola Keats	...	Julia McIlheny
Cleo Laine	...	Singer
Bessie Love	...	Bunny
Elspeth March	...	Mrs. Barrow
Henry McCarty	...	Campbell Kennedy (as Henry McCarthy)
Warren Mitchell	...	Giorgio
John Phillips	...	Tom Stone
Paul Stassino	...	Stefano - The Barber
Ernest Thesiger	...	Stefano
Mavis Villiers	...	Mrs. Coogan
Lotte Lenya	...	Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maria Britneva	...	Principessa Bonmeni (uncredited)
Thelma D'Aguilar	...	Mita (uncredited)
Edward de Souza	...	(uncredited)
Jean Marsh	...	(uncredited)
Robert Rietty	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Joe Sonessa	...	Stalker (uncredited)

Directed by
José Quintero

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gavin Lambert		writer
Jan Read		additional writing
Tennessee Williams		novel

Produced by
Louis De Rochemont	....	producer
Lothar Wolff	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Richard Addinsell

Cinematography by
Harry Waxman

Film Editing by
Ralph Kemplen

Casting by
Robert Lennard

Production Design by
Roger K. Furse

Art Direction by
Herbert Smith

Set Decoration by
John Jarvis

Costume Design by
Pierre Balmain
Beatrice Dawson

Makeup Department
Bob Lawrance	....	makeup artist
A.G. Scott	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Basil Somner	....	production manager
Ted Wallis	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Derrick Parr	....	second assistant director
Jake Wright	....	second assistant director
Peter Yates	....	assistant director
Tony Wallis	....	third assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Ivor Beddoes	....	sketch artist (uncredited)
John Graysmark	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Tony Reading	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Peter Wood	....	scenic artist (uncredited)

Sound Department
Keith Batten	....	sound assistant
Leslie Hodgson	....	dubbing editor
Cecil Mason	....	sound mixer
Dennis Whitlock	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ernest Day	....	camera operator
Alec Mills	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Jimmy Stilwell	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Betty Adamson	....	wardrobe
John Briggs	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Eunice Mountjoy	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Graham Shipham	....	assembly editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Douglas Gamley	....	conductor
Douglas Gamley	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
June Faithfull	....	continuity
Jack King	....	administrator
Robert Porter	....	location manager

Production Companies

• A. A. Productions
• Seven Arts Pictures
• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner-Pathé Distributors (1961) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1969) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)

Also Known As:

The Widow and the Gigolo

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | UK:X (original rating) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

A. A. Productions

Trivia:

Last full-length feature film of Ernest Thesiger.

Quotes:

Paolo di Leo: Rome is a very old city. Three-thousand years. How old are you? Fifty?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Vivien Leigh: Scarlett & Beyond (1990) (TV)

Vivien Leigh Echoing Her Life At The Time

Read together the biographies of Tennessee Williams and Vivien Leigh, and you'll know why the depressing aspects of this movie are so realistic!! Vivien was, at the time the movie was made, going through her painful divorce from Laurence Olivier. In the middle of making the film, she had dinner with her beloved Olivier and Joan Plowright, at which time he told her that he was marrying Joan. Vivien had electro-shock treatments right after wrapping this movie. That desolate, soul-searing sadness in her eyes isn't acting!

Tennessee Williams features gigolos, procurers and prostitutes in many of his plays and this was no exception, although the 'action' is disguised by the high-faluting manners of the Countessa (the madam, who lives off the earnings of her 'boys'). You wonder how much Tennessee may have fashioned the play on Miss Leigh's life, as 'Mrs. Stone' is an actress past her prime, whose husband has just absented himself from her life (and his, as well). Williams exquisitely portrays the way we use one another for our own advantage, and Beatty (with a crummy Italian accent) does a great job of 'playing' the self-involved, narcissistic, money hungry Lothario. Once he hooks her, he delights in sadistically attacking her for her 'weakness' in loving him. Ever been there? At that time in his life, Beatty was playing a similar but more innocent role with almost every woman in Hollywood. He has matured well.

The writing was excellent, the scenery in Rome magnificent, but you will be so depressed after seeing this excellent movie that I suggest you also check out 'Bulworth' as a double feature to follow with. Beatty on two sides of his career is worth comparing: drama and comedy, villain and hero. I believe you'll have to say that Warren Beatty is an actor as well as a movie star.

Even though Vivien Leigh did not care for Beatty's arrogance while making this movie, she was able to turn the horror of her personal life into something constructive (as did Tennessee Williams), for which we the public should always be grateful. To make art from the ashes of a marriage----destroyed by death or divorce----- is something each of us would do well to learn.

For those of you with indomitable spirits, another Tennessee Williams film to see for comparison purposes is "Summer and Smoke". The interplay between the romantic leads is more equal, but both portray the sadness from Tennessee's sister Rose's life. She was a beautiful Southern flower, intimidated by her overbearing mother and alcoholic father, who wound up having a lobotomy (as did another sad victim /child of our nation's leading family). Tennessee paid homage to her tragic life in many of his plays, and these are no exception. Intelligent, beautiful but completely impotent at withstanding the aggression of those around her, Mrs. Stone is a prime example of a 'Rose by another name'.