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Suddenly, Last Summer
by Sony Pictures
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$9.95 |
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$8.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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$0.96 (9%) |
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DVD
SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Jack Hildyard
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS YARN ABOUT A WEALTHY SOUTHERN MATRIACH, HERSUPPOSEDLY MAD NIECE AND A NEUROSURGEON. SPECIAL FEATURES: SCENESELECTIONS, SUBTITLES IN ENGLIHS, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, CHINESE, KOREAN AND THAI, PHOTO MONTAGE, VINTAGE ADVERTISING, TALENT FILES, THEATRICAL TRAILERS, PRODUCTION NOTES AND MUCH MORE.
This black-and-white film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's Southern gothic play is perhaps more famous for the rumored off-screen shenanigans of its stars than for its over-the-top repressed sexuality (only Williams could pull off that paradox, and pull it off he does). Supposedly, stars Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor battled for screen time; Hepburn warred very publicly with director Joseph Mankiewicz; and a postaccident Montgomery Clift relied heavily on painkillers and support from friend Taylor during the grueling shoot. Even this, however, cannot top the events of the film itself, revolving around the unseen playboy Sebastian and his mysterious death, which has something to do with young boys, a decadent European vacation, and Taylor in a provocative wet, white bathing suit. To give away the plot would spoil the fun, but suffice it to say that what Taylor saw was so horrible it drove her nuts, and Sebastian's mother (Hepburn) wants her to have a lobotomy in order to keep it from coming out; Clift is brought in to do the procedure. It's all a hoot and a holler, but as played by the two leading ladies (both of whom nabbed Oscar nominations), it's also compelling, chilling, and utterly gothic. Taylor gives a fierce performance, as the climaxing monologue that reveals Sebastian's "secret" rests entirely on her shoulders, and Hepburn plays brilliantly against type as Sebastian's manipulating, overbearing mother. Only Clift, saddled with a dreary character in charge of plot exposition, fails to deliver. Adapted by Gore Vidal. --Mark Englehart
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Fabulous Performances |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This movie is a unique opportunity to see Katherine Hepburn in one of her best performances as Mrs. Violet Venable, a hypocritical, tyrannical and snobbish power monger of the old South. She is considering doing a lobotomy on her niece, Catherine Holly for fear that she could reveal the 'scandalous' life that led to her son Sebastian's savage death. As in many ways the mainstream culture in America would rather be lobotomized than accept the nature of homosexuality, this movie is a strange allegory for much more than a Southern Gothic scenario of horror and madness.
The most interesting things about this movie are outside the range of the camera: The great character of Sebastian, which sounds fascinating from the descriptions, and how Montgomery Clift, himself a tortured homosexual, felt about playing the role of the conscience in this movie that deals with his situation in the oblique manner that was only possible then to escape censorship. I find it fascinating that even today very few in the 75 reviews here even mention that homosexuality is a component in this film,not only because Sebastian is the central character to the story but because his mother and cousin can not be fully understood outside of the context of gay culture. Everything about the movie reverts to this theme: the exotic garden, once tended by Sebastian and now maintained by his mother, the baroque elaboration of Mrs. Venable's language and her exquisite manners, the perfect beauty of the crazed cousin in her 'Parisian' dress, the elaborate gilt bronze elevator in the house shared by Sebastian and his mother that is a reference to the Byzantine throne: all of these details are classic components within the structure of gay culture and identity.
Elizabeth Taylor is compelling as the maddened Catherine. Montgomery Clift's performance is not one of his best, and though he still looks handsome the face definetly shows the signs of the extensive repair after the accident and the more extensive, permanent damage from drinking and drugging that would kill him.
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| Catholic+pagan=breathtaking |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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way back when, in school, one of my professors proclaimed this Williams's best play. i agree with him wholeheartedly (with "Streetcar" up there, with its very similar theme/themes, ie. human frailties and those who prey on their fellow human creatures).
its over-the-top gothic horror and mix of Catholic and pagan imagery is near-breathtaking. and it's worth noting that a life-size model/statue of St. Sebastian, the "beautiful boy martyr," is prominently displayed in its main character's studio/study/abatoir. Sebastian Veneble, though we only see him in memory flashbacks, is the main character of this film: without him, there would be no "Suddenly, Last Summer."
i sincerely want to avoid offending anyone, Catholic or otherwise, but this movie plays like a Catholic Mass conceived and written by H. P. Lovecraft (and it must be Lovecraft: his florid, even at times epicene, Victorian style is mandatory). it's Transubstantiation/Eucharist/Communion with a horrifying twist. to my knowledge there has been no opera written based on the play, though it strikes me as being near-perfect for an intense one-act opera.
if nothing else, "Suddenly, Last Summer" is a movie lover's only chance to see Hepburn and Taylor in the same film. this and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" should be mandatory for anyone who's dismissed Elizabeth Taylor as a serious actress.
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| Complex film with great performances. |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Suddenly, Last Summer is about many things, and the one thing it deals with is the nature of God,who appears to be like human and non human nature, violent and staggeringly cruel.
Elizabeth Taylor stands out in this film, and her final monolgue is shattering , one of her favorite portrayals; and Katharine Hepburn is dynamite as Sebastian Venable's mother, one of her very best performancres.
See this unforgettable film about God, and how we are all trapped by a savage, devouring creation, all synthesized for us suddenly, last summer.
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| DON'T WATCH THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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This isn't one of those movies that it takes maturity in age to appreciate and understand. No one, no matter what age is ready for such a gruesome and downright disgusting film that depicts cannibalism. I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Taylor, and when I picked up this movie, I envisioned a sweet beach romance due to the lighthearted-sounding and very misleading title: Suddenly, Last Summer. I couldn't have been more wrong. People are only attracted to this movie because they find it is different (obviously) and therefore feel they should embrace it because of its controversiality. I guess that's what sells these days-the more horrific, the better. Doesn't any one care about morals? Why should people pay to see the lowest animal instinct come out in humans? Leave that in the jungles of Africa. Don't you think we have improved enough as a society since then that we can reflect a better side of life?
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| A rich meal for the eyes! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I watch this film so much it seems like I have no other dvds and I also am afraid that I've might scratched up by now because the constant viewings.The point is I am insane over anything having to do with Tennesee Williams. I love films about rich southern families dark secrets or any rich families dark secrets,insanty,closeted gay men,.Suddenly Last Summer is like a fatting meal you its bad for you but its sooooooooo good!
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