Katharine Hepburn is in sparkling form in David Lean’s Summertime, a winning romantic comedy adapted from Arthur Laurent\'s stage play The Time of the Cuckoo.
A much more modest production than his later epics such as Lawrence Of Arabia and Dr Zhivago, this 1955 release is a charming, witty tale of yearning, innocence abroad, love and regret.
In her autobiography Me, Hepburn recalled, \"They called me and said that David Lean was going to direct it. Would I be...they didn\'t need to finish that sentence.\" You can see why she jumped at the chance to work with the legendary director in a role that perfectly suits her, a mixture of toughness, wistfulness, sadness and vulnerability.
She plays Jane Hudson, a 'fancy secretary" and spinster of indeterminate age from Akron, Ohio, who saves up for the holiday of a lifetime: three weeks in Venice. Outwardly independent and self-confident, it’s soon clear she is achingly lonely and unfulfilled. Staying at the Pensioni Fiorini with a bunch of other Americans, she falls instantly in love with the city, photographing the sights with her 8mm camera, with a precocious cute street urchin (Gaitano Audiero) as her guide.
It takes rather longer for her to fall in love with Renato Di Rossi (Rosseno Brazi), a suave, middle-aged antiques dealer. He sets out to seduce her, she resists initially, perhaps, we sense, after being scarred by previous romantic disappointments.
Jane and Renato flirt, banter, dance, fight and make up, conveyed by superb chemistry between the actors. MacDonald Parke is terrific as the archetypal ignorant American tourist, who rails against 'wop food" and mocks Venice as a 'Luna Park on the water."
Lean and cinematographer Jack Hildyard brilliantly capture the noise, bustle, beauty and energy of Venice, while the lovers play out a relationship which you know cannot endure. In the UK, it was released as Summer Madness, a more meaningful title. Extras include the original theatrical trailer and an audio commentary by Dr Mark Nicholls, Melbourne University Lecturer in Cinema Studies.
