"Truth is the one thing that I've never resisted"
I have never seen a Tennessee Williams play or film adaptation, and the only time I had ever really read his works was reading A Streetcar Named Desire in high school. But that was years ago and I haven't read or engaged with his works before or since then. Until I watched Suddenly, Last Summer. And I don't know if all his works are like this, but from what I understand, his works are all similar in the sense that they are southern gothic mysteries. And if they are anything like Suddenly, Last Summer, which was over the top and campy, then he's found himself a new fan.
Suddenly, Last Summer is a Southern Gothic mystery. Catherine, played by Elizabeth Taylor, witnesses the death of her cousin Sebastian, while on holiday, and winds up going crazy. Her aunt, Violet Venable, played by Katharine Hepburn, decides to institutionalize her, and enlists the help of Dr. Cukrowicz, played by Montgomery Clift, to help perform a psychological exam on her and determine if Catherine is right for a lobotomy. Along the way, you realize that Violet is hiding something and really wants the lobotomy to prevent the truth from getting out about what really happened to her son Sebastian.
This is a dialogue heavy film. There are only but a handful of scenes and they go on for a long time. Occasionally they go on a little too long, but the dialogue is so good and sharp that it kept me engaged the whole time. It was easy to overlook the sometimes too long scenes because the dialogue was that good. So much is revealed in these scenes that I felt like that they didn't slow down the pacing of the movie in any way.
And of course, the dialogue being good wouldn't mean anything if the performances weren't good. It takes a couple of great performances to make a dialogue heavy film like this be as entertaining and engaging as it is, and thankfully, Hepburn, Taylor, and Clift are all at the top of their game. Hepburn and Taylor in particular are fantastic as Aunt and Niece, and both are over the top and ridiculous and just so much fun in the movie.
For a movie like this to be made in the late 1950s with its themes is a minor miracle. Reading up on the movie, it seems like it was toned down from the original play, but it still seemed plenty controversial at the time with its themes of hiding homosexuality and mental illness. The only way you could get a movie like this made is if you had a great director (2x Oscar winner Joseph Mankiewicz) lots of star power (Taylor, Hepburn, and Clift) and a hot script from a proven playwright. It's mysterious, intriguing, and all around a great movie and one I want to rewatch again and again.
"Truth is the one thing that I've never resisted"
I have never seen a Tennessee Williams play or film adaptation, and the only time I had ever really read his works was reading A Streetcar Named Desire in high school. But that was years ago and I haven't read or engaged with his works before or since then. Until I watched Suddenly, Last Summer. And I don't know if all his works are like this, but from what I understand, his works are all similar in the sense that they are southern gothic mysteries. And if they are anything like Suddenly, Last Summer, which was over the top and campy, then he's found himself a new fan.
Suddenly, Last Summer is a Southern Gothic mystery. Catherine, played by Elizabeth Taylor, witnesses the death of her cousin Sebastian, while on holiday, and winds up going crazy. Her aunt, Violet Venable, played by Katharine Hepburn, decides to institutionalize her, and enlists the help of Dr. Cukrowicz, played by Montgomery Clift, to help perform a psychological exam on her and determine if Catherine is right for a lobotomy. Along the way, you realize that Violet is hiding something and really wants the lobotomy to prevent the truth from getting out about what really happened to her son Sebastian.
This is a dialogue heavy film. There are only but a handful of scenes and they go on for a long time. Occasionally they go on a little too long, but the dialogue is so good and sharp that it kept me engaged the whole time. It was easy to overlook the sometimes too long scenes because the dialogue was that good. So much is revealed in these scenes that I felt like that they didn't slow down the pacing of the movie in any way.
And of course, the dialogue being good wouldn't mean anything if the performances weren't good. It takes a couple of great performances to make a dialogue heavy film like this be as entertaining and engaging as it is, and thankfully, Hepburn, Taylor, and Clift are all at the top of their game. Hepburn and Taylor in particular are fantastic as Aunt and Niece, and both are over the top and ridiculous and just so much fun in the movie.
For a movie like this to be made in the late 1950s with its themes is a minor miracle. Reading up on the movie, it seems like it was toned down from the original play, but it still seemed plenty controversial at the time with its themes of hiding homosexuality and mental illness. The only way you could get a movie like this made is if you had a great director (2x Oscar winner Joseph Mankiewicz) lots of star power (Taylor, Hepburn, and Clift) and a hot script from a proven playwright. It's mysterious, intriguing, and all around a great movie and one I want to rewatch again and again.
