Rating: 
Summary: A Perfect Little Film
Review: The transfer to DVD is glorious, from an original negative. This flim looks like it was made yesterday, a great improvement over the VHS tape or TV screenings. The sound is equally brilliant. If all DVD releases were produced with this care, we'd have something to write home about ...
Rating:
Summary: take me to venice!
Review: this criterion collection "sleeper" is a treasure! the film itself is a poignant love interlude for the independent but lonely jane hudson on her long-awaited trip to venice. hepburn gives a beautiful performance and is matched every step of the way by rossano brazzi as her love interest.a bitter-sweet tale of "be careful what you ask for" that doesn't sweeten the pill. the real winner(apart from you, if you purchase this disc!),is the stunning dvd transfer by criterion-simply one of the most beautiful of films and a showcase for the format venice has never looked as ravishing!a must have for any serious collection.
Rating:
Summary: take me to venice!
Review: this criterion collection "sleeper" is a treasure! the film itself is a poignant love interlude for the independent but lonely jane hudson on her long-awaited trip to venice. hepburn gives a beautiful performance and is matched every step of the way by rossano brazzi as her love interest.a bitter-sweet tale of "be careful what you ask for" that doesn't sweeten the pill. the real winner(apart from you, if you purchase this disc!),is the stunning dvd transfer by criterion-simply one of the most beautiful of films and a showcase for the format venice has never looked as ravishing!a must have for any serious collection.
Rating:
Summary: The Best!
Review: This movie rates as one of my all time favorites. It leaves you a little sad at the end, but still smiling.
Rating: 
Summary: An really good movie for Criterion
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD release of the film. This is a good movie filmed entirely on location in Venice, Italy. Just getting back from a trip to Italy a week before writing this review makes it more interesting. The film stars Katherine Hepburn in one of her most memorable roles. It is also filmed in Technicolor making it more interesting. There is also a memorable scene where she backs up and falls into a canal while attempting to photograph a certain building. This scene was filmed in the same location of the exterior shots of the "library" in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This building is actually a church. Chiesa di San Barnaba. Located south of the Grand Canal in Venice. The DVD itself only has the theatrical trailer as a special feature but it still is a nice movie to watch and very well photographed.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful 50s time-trip to Venice
Review: Venice has never been more beautiful; Katherine Hepburn has never been more poignant, and Rosanno Brazzi has never been sexier. And this DVD version of the film captures the Techni-colors in ways they've not been seen since the film was released in the mid-50s. What's surprising about seeing the film today (for anyone with a knowledge of where screen morals were in the 50s) is the fact that it deals with adultery in a way that was rarely seen in its time. Spinster Hepburn goes off to romantic Venice, sort-of-but-not-quite looking for love, and when she finds it, it's with a middle-aged, married man. While she doesn't "get the guy" in the end, she isn't "punished for her transgression" either. It seems a miracle that the Church allowed such a movie to be made in the 50s--and in Italy no less. Watch this in a double bill with "Roman Holiday" and you'll be booking a flight to Italy before the end credits finish rolling.
Rating:
Summary: ...DUHN'T CALL ME "COOKIE!"
Review: What can you say about "SUMMERTIME" without gushing? It's my favorite film of the 1950's, and probably in my favorite Top 5 films of all time. The scenery is captured with so brilliantly. The plot is so intricate yet simple. The acting runs the range from achingly tender to intensely cathartic. Words just can't do justice to this film---you simply HAVE to experience it. No other way will do... As Katherine Hepburn's character, Jane Hudson*, (*NOTE: NOT "BABY JANE HUDSON"--THAT'S ANOTHER STORY), rolls into Venice on the train, she sums up the way she's put all her dreams in one basket. "Do you think I won't like Venice? But I HAVE to. I've waited and saved up for such a long time to come here. I JUST HAVE TO LIKE IT." Many people will be able to identify with the feeling of really NEEDING to enjoy the reality of a place they've dreamed of going, when they actually get to their vacation destination. Jane's evolution from an organized, uptight, cautious, bewildered American tourist to a slightly more-relaxed, enlightened, tolerant, fanciful "girl" is the core of the plot, and a delight to follow. Rossano Brazzi, fresh from 1954's "Three Coins In The Fountain" (shot in Rome), is quietly and smolderingly sensual as the lonely, broadminded married man, Renaldo, who appeals to Jane for warmth, togetherness, and understanding. True, some of the lines were risque for the 1950's. When arguing about how she's not just another tourist out for a quick fling abroad, Jane is rebutted by one of the screen's all-time greatest double-entendres. Renaldo defends his perspective of ethics, and his gift of caring, with the classic line, "you [American] tourists...you talk so much of "love"...well, take it--don't "talk" it! Especially wonderful (and notable) is the scene in which Jane accidentally falls into a canal. Unfortunately, Katherine Hepburn did not completely close one of her eyes during the shooting of this scene, and she developed an optical infection, from the polluted water, which has affected the eye ever since. Some comic relief is provided in the form of Mauro, a school-age street urchin, wise WAY beyond his years. When not trying to sell Jane nudie postcards or hustle her for cigarettes, his sensitivity and insight mirrors Renaldo's. In a way, Mauro's presence helps Jane understand both men are not inherently "bad," just a product of their current-day culture and exposure. Mauro is right when he notes, "...you nice la-dee, but, inside, I think you cry..." The final scene, when Mauro gives Jane a pen he bought with HIS OWN MONEY gets to me every time....AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO THINK OF A GARDENIA ANY OTHER WAY...
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