Antipodean actress Judy Davis is supposed to have asked David Lean: 'Don't you do women's pictures?' Faced with such appalling ignorance Lean responded with : 'Well, every now and then I suppose'.
'Summertime' of course is very much a woman's picture and is also notable for being the last of Lean's intimate, smaller budget films and one which convinced him more than ever to work exclusively on location and avoid the studio which he likened to going down a mine.
Lean himself thought 'Summertime' his favourite film. I would assume by that he was referring to the making of it, working as he was in one of his favourite cities with his favourite actress.
We see Venice as if for the first time through the eyes of American tourist Jane Hudson who confides to the owner of the pensione where she is staying that she might perhaps have come to Venice looking for something. That 'something' appears in the person of the Renato of Rossano Brazzi. Having found it she then decides that it cannot last and forces herself to return to America. Apparently Lean was none too enamoured of Brazzi but realised that he was perfect casting. There is no doubting Brazzi's 'simpatico' and his scenes with Hepburn are very effective. Apparently Vittorio de Sica had been considered for the role but surely this consummate artiste would have been too 'knowing'. Lean had cast Isa Miranda as Signora Fiorini based upon her splendid, award winning performance as the weathered, dark-haired waitress in 'Walls of Malapaga'. He wasn't prepared however for the blonde with the smooth, unlined face who arrived on the set. A clash was bound to ensue........
Lean adored Miss Hepburn and considered she had the perfect combination of instinct and technique. Most critics acnowledged that the film had two assets, Hepburn and Venice. Hepburn herself told Arthur Laurents: 'you won't like it but I am brilliant'. Needless to say Laurents did not at all like this glamourised version of his play. Hepburn's perfectly judged performance, the Venetian architecture and the glorious Southern light will always guarantee this film's popularity and it stands up pretty well sixty-five years on with one exception. Lean intended having a dig at American tourists but the characters of Mr. And Mrs. Mclhenny are now little more than caricatures.
I was genuinely sorry when the film finished but I was not sorry to have heard the last of the infernal 'Romantica'. One can after all have too much of a good thing!
'Summertime' of course is very much a woman's picture and is also notable for being the last of Lean's intimate, smaller budget films and one which convinced him more than ever to work exclusively on location and avoid the studio which he likened to going down a mine.
Lean himself thought 'Summertime' his favourite film. I would assume by that he was referring to the making of it, working as he was in one of his favourite cities with his favourite actress.
We see Venice as if for the first time through the eyes of American tourist Jane Hudson who confides to the owner of the pensione where she is staying that she might perhaps have come to Venice looking for something. That 'something' appears in the person of the Renato of Rossano Brazzi. Having found it she then decides that it cannot last and forces herself to return to America. Apparently Lean was none too enamoured of Brazzi but realised that he was perfect casting. There is no doubting Brazzi's 'simpatico' and his scenes with Hepburn are very effective. Apparently Vittorio de Sica had been considered for the role but surely this consummate artiste would have been too 'knowing'. Lean had cast Isa Miranda as Signora Fiorini based upon her splendid, award winning performance as the weathered, dark-haired waitress in 'Walls of Malapaga'. He wasn't prepared however for the blonde with the smooth, unlined face who arrived on the set. A clash was bound to ensue........
Lean adored Miss Hepburn and considered she had the perfect combination of instinct and technique. Most critics acnowledged that the film had two assets, Hepburn and Venice. Hepburn herself told Arthur Laurents: 'you won't like it but I am brilliant'. Needless to say Laurents did not at all like this glamourised version of his play. Hepburn's perfectly judged performance, the Venetian architecture and the glorious Southern light will always guarantee this film's popularity and it stands up pretty well sixty-five years on with one exception. Lean intended having a dig at American tourists but the characters of Mr. And Mrs. Mclhenny are now little more than caricatures.
I was genuinely sorry when the film finished but I was not sorry to have heard the last of the infernal 'Romantica'. One can after all have too much of a good thing!