Watch Suddenly, Last Summer For Free

Fresh and Exciting

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This film is occupied by a great cast and is full of interesting characters and performances. In particular I enjoyed Hepburn's Violet Venable, her eccentricities and open scenes in the garden, especially with the Venus Fly Trap. The story is a bit veiled to make palatable for the times but overall I think its still expressed affectively. Being based on a play it does feel a bit stagey at times. It also feels a bit melodramatic at times, but despite these shortcomings I found this film very interesting and entertaining. It's definitely not for everyone and I guess I could identify it as a guilty pleasure, but for those who are curious I think you should give it a try and judge for yourself.

It's sad to think that for most people the name Elizabeth Taylor draws up images of an overweight overly made up jewelry bedecked fading actress known more for her long time involvement with Richard Burton or that she was friends with Michael Jackson. Taylor was so much more than that. Tabloids seem to rule though so the rest is forgotten. Ignored is the fact she began as a child actress, that she moved on to leading lady roles in some classic films and that she displayed a great acting prowess in movies like WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLFE actually winning for that performance and that she was nominated 5 times winning twice. It's easy to see why she would be nominated when watching this film.The story opens in a New Orleans mental hospital trying to stay afloat and seeking funding. Their star attraction is a young psycho-surgical doctor named Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift). Using new techniques he's doing all he can for his patients, never rushing to use the methods he masters but trying to find other solutions when possible.John is sent by hospital administrator Dr. Hockstader (Albert Dekker) to talk to wealthy Violet Venerable (Katherine Hepburn) about her niece Catherine Holly (Taylor). Catherine was there with Violet's son Sebastian when he died and has since told a tale that Violet claims is mere babbling. She claims to want to help Catherine but in truth she wants her lobotomized in hopes of silencing her.John doesn't just randomly do the procedure though, instead trying to help his patients. Meeting with Catherine he hears her story and realizes that something is hidden in the deepest recesses of her mind that won't come out and help her heal. His job remains throughout the film to help Catherine find out what it is that is causing her such mental trauma and at the same time why this news would cause Violet to want him to perform such an operation on the girl.Based on the play by Tennessee Williams with a screenplay by Gore Vidal, the story is filled with references to a most controversial topics at the time, homosexuality. The inferences are there from the start so it shouldn't be a spoiler to realize that Sebastian had something to hide that his domineering mother is unwilling to discuss or contemplate all the while knowing the truth. Catherine is a naïve character here never realizing quite what Sebastian is. It is her innocence and the determination of Violet to protect her own mental illusions that makes up the drama in the film.The movie takes its time to unravel the story it tells and does so with skill. The performances on display show actors at the top of their game though much has been said about the problems faced by Clift while shooting. Having suffered an injury in a car wreck he was dependent on drugs and alcohol and was trying to get over that dependency. It was Taylor, the top box office star at the time, who wielded her power of popularity to force the studio to hire Clift, one of the many displays of compassion she showed people during her lifetime.Both Hepburn and Taylor were nominated for their performances but both lost. The film was a financial hit at the time but now seems unknown to most. Offering a solid story that's sad and hopefully it will be rediscovered on disc.Twilight Time has done a great job of presenting this film in the most beautiful way imaginable. While a black and white film their handling of the presentation here offers the most crisp and clean looking copy I've ever seen, a 1080p hi def edition. Extras are limited to an isolated music and effects track and the original trailer. As always the disc is limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested by one today.

If you're a Tennessee Williams fan, you probably know a little bit about his personal life. Tennessee's sister was mentally ill and underwent a lobotomy in the 1940s. The procedure's aftermath was devastating, and she was institutionalized for the remainder of her life. Knowing this, and knowing the persona of his overbearing mother, it's easy to see Suddenly, Last Summer as a partially autobiographical work, as were most of his plays. In this story, a strong, domineering mother tries to convince a young doctor to perform a lobotomy on her unstable niece.Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift became lifelong friends in real life after their pairing in A Place in the Sun, and not only do audiences see them reunited for a third time in this film, but it's interesting and entertaining to see the reversed dynamic. Before, Monty was striving for the upper-class Liz, and in this one, he's the classy doctor she keeps trying to shock and flirt with. They both give excellent, Tennessee Williams-esque performances; it sometimes seems like Monty was born to act in his plays.Katharine Hepburn plays the mother. She was known for her forceful characterizations in her later years, and when you watch Suddenly, Last Summer, it's easy to see why. Kate and Liz were pinned against each other in the Best Actress category during the 1960 Oscar ceremony, but neither one took home the gold. The following year, Liz won a make-up Oscar for BUtterfield 8, so if you watch this movie and think she was robbed, you can relax knowing she was honored for her next film.

Another Tennessee Williams drama, rich with conflict and symbolism. I'll not offer a plot synopsis, as many previous commentators have done so, far better than I could. There were exceptional performances, as one would expect, from Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn. A more pedestrian performance from Montgomery Clift, and an interesting Albert Dekker playing a bit against type. The events begin with revelations of Hepburn's Violet Venable and her creepily inappropriate relationship with her adult son, a "poet". While almost certainly not actually incestuous, it was weird and icky. It turns out that the son was gay, a not really open concept in 1937, or 1959 for that matter. There appears to be a lot of Freudian symbolism, which was much in vogue at the time, and I recommend reading the comments on the message board for a lot of thoughts on that. But the film, while having a fair amount of monologues, as adaptations from theater often do, is still an intense psychological drama.