The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

When her wealthy, older husband dies, an aging actress (Vivien Leigh) decides to retire and move to Rome. For some strange reason, she finds herself at a loss. She seems to have no interests - no hobbies. She becomes "fixated" on having sex with young men.

She is introduced to a "candidate" (Warren Beatty) by a procurer, Lotte Lenya. But Mrs. Stone (Vivien Leigh) is somewhat reluctant to begin a "liasion".

Eventually, she succumbes to his obvious charms. But their relationship is skin-deep - she provides the money, he provides the sex. Meanwhile, a filthy street urchin (Jeremy Spenser) has been following her. He is hoping to capture her attentions. "What do you want?", she cries out.

Eventually, Mrs. Stone loses her "boy-toy" - he becomes attracted to a much younger woman. And Mrs. Stone falls into the arms of the filthy street urchin. The film, which has many fine and memorable moments, is dominated - and weakened - by the parched performamce of Vivien Leigh, who seems to be struggling for air.

When she falls into the arms of Jeremy Spenser, you just know that the end is not far off. The film is basically a hard-hitting testimony to the inescapable fact that love for sale is not an beneficial enterprise for anyone - the buyer or the seller

Lotte Lenya's formidable, terrifying performance captures the forbidding soul of this movie.

I'll say flat out right at the beginning, that if you don't appreciate the talents of Vivien Leigh -- you will not like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. This is her penultimate film, which was really made as a vehicle for her talents, without much of an ensemble cast and she's in nearly every scene. But the great actress is certainly up to the task of making this material work, although she is let down at times by contrivances of plot and other aspects of believability.

Taken from famous playwright Tennessee William's novella, the story concerns aging actress Karen Stone, who yearns to retire with her rich husband, who unfortunately expires while on their way to Rome for their extended getaway. Then the lonely widow starts dating a handsome young Italian guy who has an unusually close relationship with the sinister contessa who introduced them both.

Vivien Leigh as Karen Stone "drifts" through the movie, an ethereal presence that's nearly translucent, extremely delicate and cautiously mannered. The machinations of the plot allow her many opportunities to overstate or exaggerate, which is something Leigh never does. Many have said that this source material is kind of second rate Tennessee Williams, but even if true, Vivien Leigh's work here makes the very best of it in an engaging style.

And the movie has the added benefit of young future superstar Warren Beatty, making his second feature film. Needless to say, he looks fantastic, making it much more believable that Mrs. Stone would become so enamored with him. It's evident that Beatty clearly dove headfirst into an attempt to transform himself into an Italian gigolo. I find the Italian accent he attempted to be perhaps a little lacking at some points in the way of his hitting a few wrong pronunciations that sound artificial at very few and select times. Other than that minor detail, Beatty fills the role more than adequately, and his star power is in abundance.

And no small mention must go to fabulous Lotte Lenya (who scored an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress in this), as this unctuous Euro-trash "contessa" who deals in romantic relationships usually for women of a certain class, age and wealth. She's extremely creepy, and look for a frightening scene set inside a cavernous discotheque where the camera follows Lenya slithering through the crowd, making her way to the fragile Mrs Stone. Every scene with Lenya is a highlight in this movie, and also see how her intense love for her pet cat is expressed in the way Lenya artfully handles the willing feline.

The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, surely a "must-see" for devotees of Williams, Leigh, Beatty or Lenya, and anyone who enjoys colorful European settings, vivid characters and glossy romantic drama.

**** out of *****

"In a few years, a cut throat would be a blessing" that's what Karen Stone (Vivien Leigh) tells Paolo (Warren Beatty)letting us know that she sees her life in an inexorable descend into the unspeakable. Old age is the ultimate punishment for the vain and the selfish. Tennessee Williams dissects that theory with an expert hand. The depression that Vivien Leigh (magnificent, once you get over the wig) carries with her at all times is so pungent and vivid that when you see her smile you may emit a sigh of relief. She's looking for her angel of death and Warren Beatty really looks the part. So Italian in his childishness if not his accent that you understand why Mrs. Stone will let herself fall into his obvious trap, wouldn't you? The pessimism and the sense of tragedy - the most personal and embarrassing kind - leads us by the hand through this gorgeous, gelid journey through a life about to fade in a place, rightly know as the eternal city. Vivien Leigh is sublime looking into her terrifying future. Warren Beatty seems to fit perfectly the reason to go against everything you believe in. Lotte Lenya is great fun to watch and a wonderful villain if I ever saw one. Coral Browne looks enormous next to Vivien Leigh and as a close friend, she reminded me of Mame's closest friend, Vera Charles, the one who would tell you all the ugly truths. I must confess, I enjoyed it but I couldn't shake off the melancholia for days and days.

The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone is based on a novella by Tennessee Williams and I'm sure it was Tennessee who saw to it that Vivien Leigh was cast in the title role. After all Vivien had won an Oscar for playing that other Tennessee Williams sex starved female, Blanche Dubois.

But Karen Stone is a woman very much like Vivien Leigh was in real life. Karen is an actress who's refused to grow old gracefully, when we meet her she's just been trashed by the London critics for a very bad portrayal of Rosamund in As You Like It. She's 50 trying to play a young girl in her teens. Better she should have played Queen Gertrude in a revival of Hamlet.

Anyway she and her husband decide to take a long holiday in Rome, but as the plane is landing her husband has a heart attack and dies. He's left her well fixed and after a suitable period of mourning Mrs. Stone is ready for a little action in her life.

This is Tennessee Williams so we're talking sex here. Vivien maybe too old to play Rosalind, but she's not too old to enjoy what Rosalind enjoys. And Lotte Lenya who makes a living procuring young men for her clients is willing to supply.

Warren Beatty is what Vivien thinks she wants. Warren is the only real weakness in The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. He does pout an awful lot in the role and his accent is phony.

But Vivien who was going through mid life crisis for decades before she died in 1967 was perfect casting. I'm not sure how much of it is acting and how much she's just playing herself. The woman had a lot of emotional and physical problems and as her husband Laurence Olivier frankly admitted, she was a nymphomaniac in real life.

Lotte Lenya got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the Countess. However this was the year of West Side Story and Rita Moreno beat her in that category.

This was one of the frankest discussions about sex ever put on film up to that time. In fact though no gay sex is discussed, right at the beginning you see a couple of men meeting for a tryst and you can spot a few obviously gay couples strolling throughout Rome. The Code was definitely coming down.

One of the big pluses The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone has is that it was shot completely in The Eternal City. The movie industry loved Rome at that time with Roman Holiday, Three Coins In The Fountain, The Seven Hills Of Rome and now The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone all showing Rome to its best advantage. The other three films were a lot more upbeat than this one was.

Stage director Jose Quintero did a great job with his cast in his one and only big screen production. The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone was done with Helen Mirren in Vivien Leigh's part several years ago. You might want to see both to compare.

In general, it seems that most big name actresses are loathe to admit that time has caught up with them. Too often, as they get older, the become vain about their age and often portray women MUCH younger than they really are. However, in the case of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", Vivian Leigh does something rather brave--she plays a woman who is about 50 (just like Leigh was at the time) and who can no longer play these young woman parts. And I can really respect her for playing a character who hits close to home, so to speak.

When the film begins, Karen Stone (Leigh) is starring in a play. The problem is that her character is just too young for this aging actress to play. Not surprisingly, the audience members think the same and instead of continuing, she decides to quit and take her husband to Italy. He's been ill and this is the perfect excuse to allow her to gracefully pull out of the play. However, on the flight to Rome, he has a heart attack and the credits begin. Soon you learn that he died on the flight and Karen is in this strange city...alone and grieving for her husband.

Because Mrs. Stone is so vulnerable, a horrid old lady has been grooming her--grooming her to be taken by a handsome young gigolo, Paulo (Warren Beatty). Slowly, Paolo insinuates herself into Karen's life and after a while, they become lovers. However, some possible problems occur--Paolo MAY be falling for her for real and Karen soon learns that Paolo has taken advantage of other women and is planning on doing this to her as well. Oddly, however, the relationship continues--even though his prey knows what she's getting into with him.

As I watched this movie, I kept wondering why they cast the characters like they did. Although Beatty did a good job as an Italian, why not just get a handsome young Italian actor?! Also, while Leigh was very good, why have her play an American actress--why not change the story to make her a Brit? I just cannot understand the producer's thinking in both these cases.

So is the movie any good? Well, yes. But you also have to have a very high tolerance for seeing a woman in pain and not mind how unrelentingly grim the story is. This isn't surprising, since it's a story from Tennessee Williams.