Summertime (1955)

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

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Arthur Laurents (based on the original play "The Time of the Cuckoo"), H.E. Bates (screenplay)

Stars:

Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Isa Miranda

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

The American secretary Jane Hudson travels from Ohio to Venice. Jane is a middle-age single and lonely woman that have saved money for her dream trip. On the arrival, she immediately befriends the owner of the boarding house Signora Fiorini. During the night, she goes to a café and an Italian helps her to call the waiter. Jane feels sort of uncomfortable for being alone and on the next day, she sees a red glass goblet in the window of an antique store. The owner Renato de Rossi, who is the man that helped her, explains that it is an ancient goblet from the Eighteenth Century and therefore expensive; then he also explains that she should always bargain for a lower price in Venice. Jane recognizes Renato from the previous night and becomes clumsy. Soon Renato woos her but the needy Jane is afraid to love.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | murano glass | gondola | american abroad | american tourist | 

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Taglines:

She Came To Venice As a Tourist -And Went Home a Woman!

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Genres:

Romance | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

7 November 1955 (UK)

Also Known As:

David Lean's Production of Summertime

Filming Locations:

Rio dei Bareteri, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lopert Films, London Film Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Katharine Hepburn hadn't appeared in a film since 1952.

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Goofs

When Jane gives Mauro a cigarette in Campo San Stefano, she does not light it for him. He appears to have no means of lighting it, unless he has matches in his pocket. Yet, a split-second later, as Jane is walking away, Mauro is puffing away on the cigarette.

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Quotes

Jane Hudson: Nobody's older than me!

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits are shown over various paintings, where the subjects are European scenes.

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Connections

Featured in Censura: Alguns Cortes (1999)

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Soundtracks

Summertime In Venice
(uncredited)
English lyric by Carl Sigman
Italian Lyric by Pinchi
Music by Icini
Published by MCA Music, New York, NY

User Reviews

The Venice of "Summertime," in the Piazza San Marco, is indeed unique…

Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn), a middle-aged American school teacher, arrives in Venice, fulfilling a lifelong dream… On her first evening, she has an encounter with Mauro, an enterprising little street child, who becomes her unofficial escort… But in the evening, while seating in a crowded café, she sees a handsome man in a gray flannel suit... Her first instinctive reaction was to oppose, pay the bill, escape, and keep out of sight...

The next evening, she sits alone to take a drink in the Piazza San Marco, but with a wandering eye… As the violins begin playing 'Summertime in Venice', Jane would turn away in a heart beat to see Renato passing by… To hide her anxiousness, she inclines the chair next to her, pretending that she is expecting a company... Jane has come to Venice to find a handsome, unmarried hero of her dreams... But she is furious and resentful... She really can't understand what she is doing...

The most advantageous thing about David Lean's 'Summertime' is its sensitive portrait of the loneliness that holds back the fancy secretary, a desperately single heroine whose search for romance and adventure is prevented less by cultural differences than by her own feeling defenses...

Hepburn is a pleasant tourist with great magnetism... Rossano Brazzi is too powerful, tempting and charming as Renato, the Venetian who couldn't catch a fallen white gardenia in one of the canals of his town…