Summer Movie Marathon: Summertime (1955) with a spoiler

Continuing with my Summer Movie Marathon today I am focusing on the movie Summertime, released in 1955 and starring Katherine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi and directed by David Lean.

First, a little description of the movie:

Middle-aged Ohio secretary Jane Hudson (Katharine Hepburn) has never found love and has nearly resigned herself to spending the rest of her life alone. But before she does, she uses her savings to finance a summer in romantic Venice, where she finally meets the man of her dreams, the elegant Renato Di Rossi (Rossano Brazzi). But when she learns that her new paramour is leading a double life, she must decide whether her happiness can come at the expense of others.

Summertime isn’t exactly a summer movie in my opinion, other than the fact that Katherine Hepburn travels to Venice in the summer. It could really take place anytime, but it’s called Summertime because Katherine has her first big international adventure and her first big romance on this trip that is in the summer.

Okay, fine, maybe it is a summer movie, but I guess I think of summer movies being on the beach and being a bit silly. This movie is not silly. It is, in fact, quite serious at times. There are funny moments but there are also some big life issues that hit Katherine’s character, Jane.

Jane is a lonely woman who can’t seem to fit in. She’s a little odd by some standards, though I love her character – except when she flies off the handle at this one small thing in the movie and is all over dramatic at other times.

She likes to read and take photos and film little movies on her reel-to-reel camera and doesn’t believe she could ever be loved. (She sort of sounds like me.)

At first I found Katherine’s way of acting in this part grating. I wondered why they picked her for this role, but the more I watched, the more I got it. Yes, she is a bit grating in the way she talks and handles herself but that is how the character is. She’s abrasive and bold and overly excited and also suspicious of others who seem interested in her romantically.

In this case she ends up being correct to suspect Renato De Rossi and here is where spoilers will come in so if you haven’t seen the movie and want to, you might want to stay clear of the following paragraphs.

Jane meets Renato in one of the sexiest scenes I have ever seen in a movie. No, there is no sex or nudity or crude language. The actor who plays Renato simply looks at Katherine Hepburn in a way I could only dream of being looked at. The resolution on this clip is not great but this is the look:

Brazzi absolutely oozes sex appeal throughout this whole movie – from the first moment he checks her out, his gaze gliding down her legs and back up to the back of her neck while she films the scenes around her.

Jane is embarrassed by his attention and decides to leave the restaurant but a couple of days later she’s face to face with him when she wants to buy a goblet for sale in his antique shop. He is thrilled to see her again because he could not stop checking her out at the restaurant. He asks where she is staying and the next day he shows up and wants to take her out on the town.

But, back to Jane being suspicious – she has every right to be. Renato is not who he says he is. I mean, he is attentive and passionate and romantic and very possibly in love with her but he isn’t exactly unencumbered, shall we say. He has a family – not just nieces and nephews like he eludes to but a wife and children. The wife, he claims, is living somewhere else, by her choice. She’s fine with him seeing others because she’s doing the same. That’s how Italians are, he claims. Maybe they are, but that isn’t who or how Jane is.

Still, she is drawn to Renato and can’t seem to let him go and…well, you will have to watch the movie to know what happens, but I will say there was one scene that suggested….okay. Again. You will have to watch it.

I love the scenery in this movie. It was shot on location in 1954 and it is gorgeous. The film had a budget of $1.1 million and was one of the first British-produced films to be shot entirely on location.

According to the site Luca’s Italy, (https://lucasitaly.com/2017/11/30/venice-in-the-movies-summertime-1955/) “Most of Summertime was filmed in and around the Piazza di San Marco and Campo San Barnaba, where Brazzi’s shop was located. The building is still a shop, but today sells toys rather than red Murano glass goblets, but curiously, never seems to be open.”

The blog post also states, “The Pensione Fiorini, where Hepburn stays, is now the stunningly named Splendid Hotel on Rio dei Bareteri.”

If you would like to read more about the movie here are a couple of reviews:

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/32-summertime

https://www.criterion.com/films/368-summertime

http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2014/7/16/a-year-with-kate-summertime-1955.html

https://lwlies.com/articles/summertime-katharine-hepburn-performance/

I watched this movie on Amazon but I do see it is free on YouTube. I can’t vouch for the quality:

I had to switch things up for my next movie because I couldn’t find Having A Wonderful Time streaming anywhere. I also decided not to watch Clambake because I tried to watch it and I couldn’t push through. Plus, if I had watched Clambake and written about it, I would have run into the Comfy, Cozy Cinema that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are planning and going to start September 5.

If you are interested in joining in, Erin has designed some wonderful graphics again this year and you can see the list below: