mmallon4 Watching Summertime kind of feels like going on a holiday, it just has that summer like feel to it which is hard to describe. The film doesn't have the epic scope of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia or Doctor Zhivago yet it still has that same epic feel. I've never been to Venice but with the European cities I have been to, you know that they feel like time capsules. Summertime also feels like a documentary that could have been filmed in subsequent decades (whenever 1950's fashion isn't apparent on screen) adding to the timeless aspect of the film. I often say it but the world itself is the greatest movie set of them all. Just as impressive is the sound design. The ambient noise of footsteps, dogs barking, birds singing or music in the faint background; Summertime is a good movie to have playing the in the background to create atmosphere in your own house. I am however disappointed to report however the UK DVD release of Summertime from Second Sight is pan & scan only, shame on you!Katharine Hepburn plays a tourist who exhibits a number of stereotypical tourist habits including the need to record everything she sees, I guess that's not such an annoying modern trait (all that is missing are the selfies). At least though she is an independent spinster who wants to see the authentic side of another country and not the phony stuff in comparison to the couples she meets who fall for the tourist traps and guided tours. This is one of the aspects of Summertime which I can relate to as the older I get I have less patience for organised group trips abroad and just want to go off for an adventure at my own will. That and the romantic fantasy of going to an exotic place by yourself in search of love. At its heart Summertime is a deeply tragic film once we discover just how lonely Katharine Hepburn's character is as she tries to mask her emotion and not feel awkward when conversing with married couples. We know little of this character's background and why she is going on holiday on your own? David Lean may be known for his epic visuals, but the man can create an incredibly emotional story (I still say the ending of Brief Encounter is one of the most powerful film moments I've ever witnessed). Summertime draws a number of parallels to Brief Encounter and of course the movie ends with the two being separated at a train station as he rushes to get their before the train leaves. It's a cliché ending used for decades but for good reason I believe.

Steve Pulaski To call Katharine Hepburn's Jane Hudson character in David Lean's acclaimed Summertime a sheltered woman doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of her character; calling her prudish or writing her off as shy doesn't truly summarize her well either. In the best terms I can conjure, Jane is somebody who silently craves human affection and companionship but is afraid to receive it and doesn't truly know how to reciprocate it. It reminds me of how many of my friends describe depression, as a force that basically condemns and belittles you for having know friends, yet the same mind able to create these kinds of thoughts is incapable of allowing you to remedy them in a social sense.Is Jane depressed? I don't think so. I think she's doing her best to believe she's content with being a secretary in an elementary school, a job that allows for little communication outside the realm of business. As a result, she has saved up enough money to finally take a vacation in Venice to hopefully break the monotony of her life and receive inspiration. Right off the bat, we can see Jane has done her homework on Venice and hasn't impulsively decided to take out three or four figures out of her bank account to fund a trip to a place she knows nothing about. She encounters a couple who has probably done a similar act of impulsion and rights many of the wrongs they make in judging the land and its customs before her ferry even arrives.Once there, Jane indulges in all the luxurious cafes and attractions by herself. This wouldn't be such a glaring issue if, for one, Jane looked happy whilst treating herself, or Lean's camera didn't intimately focus on the other tourists and couples indulging in the company of one another. Jane is an outsider in more ways than one here, being that she has no one to share her experiences with, and no one to come home to at night. One evening, while sitting in a cafe, Jane becomes uncomfortable with the presence of an Italian man and promptly leaves shortly after arriving.She later meets the same man, Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), at an antique shop in Venice, which he just so happens to own. The two wind up spending time together, as he shows her some of the most prized possessions in his shop. In the meantime, Jane also begins hanging out with a young boy, who often instigates or provokes her because of her lack of extroversion in social situations. The boy also serves as one of the defining forces of comic relief in the film. One particular moment where he shines involves Jane walking backwards whilst holding her camera, which she keeps close to her throughout the entire course of the film, in order to get the best shot of a landmark. As she's walking, Jane is oblivious to the river behind her, but just before she takes one step over the edge, the little boy grabs the camera right out of her hand, making no effort to save her or prevent her from falling.Summertime is one of those films that has an underlying sadness that quietly sneaks up on you as you're watching it. It's hard to notice at first, with Lean and cinematographer Jack Hildyard's sunny cinematography bleeding through the frame every chance it gets. This is one of the few films I know of that bears a disposition almost entirely built upon natural lighting, particularly in the indoor sequences, which still has a copious amount of sunshine coming through windows. Nonetheless, this device works almost as a contrast to the idea of Summertime, which is Jane's refusal to indulge in any kind of romance or happiness.It's not that Jane is happier alone - far too many times do we see her eating alone or doing some other typical social activity by herself where she looks incomplete. It's that she doesn't know how to build up a social relationship, nor does she seem to want to allow herself to get close to anyone she meets. Consider Renato, a well-meaning man who clearly sees Jane for who she is, a lonely and romantically repressed woman by her own volition rather than by circumstance. With that, Hepburn plays the character of Jane, a tricky role to put it lightly, in a superb manner. She always puts Jane's mannerisms before her own personal acting mannerisms, emphasizing Jane's very precise and specific movements that ultimately attempt to result in some sort of pleasure for herself. It's a role that is equally reliant on personal movements and patterns as it is on layered character development, and Hepburn nails both in the way she handles the role.Summertime is one of the brightest films about sadness I've yet to see; a seriously sad but ultimately charming film that works to detail the kind of alienation a person faces because of nobody other than themselves. Anchored by a fabulous performance by Hepburn and commendable cinematography, this is the kind of film that really replicates loneliness in that you can't shake it as much as you can simply recognize that something is wrong.Starring: Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. Directed by: David Lean.

vincentlynch-moonoi This is a rather exceptional film for 2 reasons. One is the color photography, all on location in Venice. The other is a very different screen performance by Katherine Hepburn. Together, they make this a "must" for movie lovers...at least once...and perhaps on your DVD shelf.It isn't that the plot is that difficult to figure out, Most viewers will know the destination after a fairly short time. But it's the road that takes you to the destination that is so worthwhile. The story focuses on Katharine Hepburn, a spinsterish, middle-aged tourist from mid-America on her dream vacation to Europe. She has a reservation at what we might today call a bread and breakfast, and it's just right for her. Staying at the pensione is Darren McGavin, a painter who isn't really very nice to his wife, though that story is very incidental to the movie. Hepburn sees only couples, and feels very alone and unable to relax and just let things happen. Through a couple of coincidences she meets 2 "men" -- one a young boy who acts as a sort of guide (sort of like Nando in "It Started In Naples"), the other a store owner who sells her a red glass goblet -- Rossano Brazzi. They fall in love, though Hepburn fights it, and is crushed to learn that Brazzi is married (though separated from his wife). She finds their relationship untenable, yet continues. Their time together is magic, but -- as we know -- she's not going to do anything dramatic. In the end she will return to America having had the thrill of her life...but be sad that it was only a fling.The photography is nothing short of stunning...as good as any foreign movie footage I have seen.The only two actors here who really matter are Hepburn and Brazzi. Brazzi is excellent...plays the role just right. But Hepburn -- mama mia! Her usual strength is not here at all. Instead she if weak and frail acting sometimes, often welling up in tears. Very vulnerable. And that is why it is such a great performance because, quite simply, it is a very different Hepburn than we usually see.Superb!

bob-790-196018 The somewhat astringent personality of Katharine Hepburn is well suited for this movie, in which she plays Jane Hudson, a middle-aged woman who has apparently been too guarded or puritanical ever to enjoy a grown-up romance. At the same time, the Rossano Brazzi character, Renato, is an opportunist, adding a dimension of realism to Jane's habitual caution and suspicion.No surprise, then, that in the end she abruptly puts a stop to their romance, even though it causes her so much pain to do so. Renato wants the romance to continue but seems to have no intention of divorcing his wife and seems heedless of the enormous gulf that separates him from Jane--different worlds, different world views. It is a bittersweet ending like that of David Lean's earlier movie, Brief Encounter.The movie has been criticized as being something of a "travelogue," but the story would have had far less meaning if it had been set in New York or even Paris. Venice is a magical place, a seemingly impossible city that nevertheless exists as a jewel on the surface of the sea. No other city could so clearly be the setting for the once-in-a-lifetime magical experience of a spinster secretary from Akron.In any case, the location filming of Venice is a delight to behold.Another likely criticism, from a feminist viewpoint, is that Jane is portrayed as less than complete without a man. I find this criticism beside the point of the film, which is that romance is an experience that most people want to have at least once in their life.