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Summertime - Criterion Collection

Summertime - Criterion Collection

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Venice, Katharine, Rossano, Romance; enough said!
Review: I have watched this magical bittersweet movie at least 25 times. And it only gets better every time. Katharine Hepburn is just superb as the spinster who finally makes a much anticipated trip to Venice, Italy. 'Everything' about this delightful film creates the ultimate escape for the true romantic viewer. The scenery of Venice, filmed in 1955, is breathtaking. Katharine is at her very best and Rossano is perfect as the married Italian man she reluctantly but helplessly falls in love with. The symbolism expressed throughout the film is sweet, sad and haunting. The little boy she befriends is adorable, and the almost ever present theme song quickly becomes, "One of your favorites"... I cannot recommend this charming, captivating and heart-warming film enough!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Never too little too late.
Review: I love this movie. It's romantic, funny, thoughtful and the sceneary is beautiful. "Jane Hudson", Ms. Hepburn, finds that career is not all there is to life. There's excitement, anticipation and love even if you're not twenty anymore. "Renaldo DeRossi", played by Rosano Brazzi, is one of the handsomest and sexiest men I've seen on screen in a long time and he plays his part in a way to make every woman wish she were Jane. I know I'll watch this movie over and over again.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: KATHERINE HEPBURN AT HER BEST
Review: I LOVE this movie... it is one of my favorites...right up there with Katherine Hepburn's ALICE ADAMS, another favorite Hepburn movie. It is romantic, has spectacular Venetian scenery, is superbly acted, as are all Hepburn movies. Rosanno Brazzi is soooo handsome and most appealing. Many characters are just what I enjoy, somewhat eccentric, but very endearing. There is plenty of humor. Hepburn befriends an adorable young Italian boy who will steal your heart away. He lives 'on the edge', worships Hepburn, weaving his way throughout Venice wheeling and dealing his way through life ... charming all he does 'business' with. Who wouldn't love this enchanting movie? The story is A+++++.

I'll watch it over and over and over again and again...when I want to see an excellent story, have a few laughs ... and a good cry. It is that good! Highly recommend it...especially for sentimentalists who appreciate a good tearjerker.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: KATHERINE HEPBURN AT HER BEST
Review: I LOVE this movie... it is one of my favorites...right up there with Katherine Hepburn's ALICE ADAMS, another favorite Hepburn movie. It is romantic, has spectacular Venetian scenery, is superbly acted, as are all Hepburn movies. Rosanno Brazzi is soooo handsome and most appealing. Many characters are just what I enjoy, somewhat eccentric, but very endearing. There is plenty of humor. Hepburn befriends an adorable young Italian boy who will steal your heart away. He lives 'on the edge', worships Hepburn, weaving his way throughout Venice wheeling and dealing his way through life ... charming all he does 'business' with. Who wouldn't love this enchanting movie? The story is A+++++.

I'll watch it over and over and over again and again...when I want to see an excellent story, have a few laughs ... and a good cry. It is that good! Highly recommend it...especially for sentimentalists who appreciate a good tearjerker.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This movie is timeless!
Review: I loved this movie in 1955 and still do today. A good friend, much younger than I, saw it just prior to her trip to Venice. Deb loved the movie and her subsequent trip to Venice! Hepburn is ... Hepburn ... wonderful. And Brazzi is handsome, sexy and perfect for the role. It was considered pretty racy at the time and left a lot to our imagination. We could learn something from it. Today, NOTHING is left to the imagination. I recommend it very highly!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: La Serenissima at Her Finest!
Review: If you have ever been to, or dreamed about, going to Venezia, then this is the film for you. Katharine Hepburn is Jane Hudson, a "spinster" from the Midwest who spends part of her longly-anticipated holiday among the ever-changing light and wildly romantic scenery of Venice. There she meets, tries to quash, and then gives into her feelings for a Uomo Italiano (and who could blame her!!!) gorgeously played by Rossano Brazzi. Buona fortuna- he is too much to resist and they are off on a Venetian adventura which is as breath- takingly filmed as the rest of the film by David Lean. One sees Jane lose her inhibitions not only due to her surroundings, but also because of the situations of the other travelers she meets at her wonderful (but apparently fabricated -such views, such views!) pensione.Perhaps you too will find yourself longing for a little get-away to this city of superlatives and adjectives (can you tell???).I found myself "telling" Jane to get over her hesitations and "go for it!" The color process of this film really comes to light with the red shoe Jane purchases for her BNO (Big Night Out).See SUMMERTIME at any time of the year for a smile which will stay on your face for along time to come.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A thoughtful and colorful Hepburn film
Review: Katharine Hepburn plays Jane Hudson, an unmarried woman vacationing alone in Venice. The city captivates her, though it's not long before her loneliness begins to take away her enjoyment of its sites. When she meets Renato, an Italian who owns an antique shop, she is nervous and thrilled by the near instantaneous attraction between them. Like the city itself, Renato holds out the promise of an unforgettable experience, even though he's a married man. Hepburn does a fine job as a spinster seeking a little bit of romance before she grows too old.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A thoughtful and colorful Hepburn film
Review: Katharine Hepburn plays Jane Hudson, an unmarried woman vacationing alone in Venice. The city captivates her, though it's not long before her loneliness begins to take away her enjoyment of its sites. When she meets Renato, an Italian who owns an antique shop, she is nervous and thrilled by the near instantaneous attraction between them. Like the city itself, Renato holds out the promise of an unforgettable experience, even though he's a married man. Hepburn does a fine job as a spinster seeking a little bit of romance before she grows too old.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The most beautiful love story set in Venice ever filmed!
Review: Katherine Hepburn and Rossano Brazi gave a tour de force acting and won in these wonderful locations . She will be loved with passion but above all with flamboyant sensitivity and powerful imagination . She is searching for affection and will find her bliss in hands of this artist .

Once more the masterful mind of David Lean elevated this slender story to cosmic heights.
The charismatic presence of Hepburn - who never was so natural in any other previous or later film - and the touch of class of her Italian pretender made of this film a real classic all the way .

A must for you to watch it !


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: KATHARINE GOES TO VENICE
Review: Life is short. So is summer in Venice. And for Katharine Hepburn, time is running out. This trip to Venice is the dream of her whole life and she wants to enjoy every penny she has patiently saved. But the venetian charm will transform her touristic stay into a personal fight against her sexuality arising under the italian sun.

But the year is 1955 and director David Lean has to use a lot of symbols and metaphors in order to make us feel the revolution happening in Katharine Hepburn's mind. The movie's highlight will be the fall of Katharine in a venetian canal. From this moment on, no more dark glasses or running camera. The heat is on.

This Criterion's presentation of one of David Lean's masterpiece is marvellous. I've had the feeling to rediscover this movie seen a few years ago in a local cinema with washed out colours. In the DVD standard, even the night scenes of SUMMERTIME are gorgeous with the canals mirroring the beauty of Katharine Hepburn.

It's an agreeable sensation to rediscover once in a while what cinema is really about.

A DVD for your library.


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