Summertime (1955 film)
| Summertime | |
|---|---|
Original poster
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| Directed by | David Lean |
| Produced by | Ilya Lopert |
| Written by |
H.E. Bates David Lean Based on a play by Arthur Laurents |
| Starring |
Katharine Hepburn Rossano Brazzi Darren McGavin Isa Miranda |
| Music by | Alessandro Cicognini |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Edited by | Peter Taylor |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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June 21, 1955 |
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2 million (US) |
Summertime (released in the UK as Summer Madness) is a 1955 American/British Technicolor romance film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean and H. E. Bates is based on the play The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents.
The story focuses on Jane Hudson (Katharine Hepburn), a single, middle-aged elementary school secretary (she refers to her position as "a fancy secretary") from Akron, Ohio. She is on her summer vacation and is now enjoying her lifelong dream of a vacation in Venice after saving up money for the past few years for the big trip. During the ride on a vaporetto to the Pensione Fiorini, she meets two fellow Americans, Lloyd (MacDonald Parke) and Edith (Jane Rose) McIlhenny. At the hotel, they are greeted by Signora Fiorini (Isa Miranda), a widow who transformed her home into a pensione after World War II. Also staying at the property are Eddie Yaeger (Darren McGavin), a young American painter studying art, and his wife Phyl (Mari Aldon).
Jane is also pestered off and on during her stay by a friendly young Italian street urchin, Mauro.
That evening, Jane walks to the Piazza San Marco, where the sight of so many couples leaves her slightly depressed. While seated in a café, she becomes aware of a solitary Italian man watching her and quickly leaves.
The following day, Jane goes shopping and sees a red glass goblet in the window of an antiques store. Upon entering she discovers that the owner, Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), is the very man from whom she fled the night before. He assures her that the goblet is an authentic 18th-century artifact, and she purchases it after he teaches her the art of bargaining. Hoping to see her again, Renato offers to search for a matching goblet. The next morning, Jane returns to the shop with Mauro and is disappointed to discover that Renato is not there. Jane then accidentally steps backward into a canal while filming de Rossi's shop.
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