Rating: 
Summary: A Psycological portrait of privilege and decadence
Review: What would anyone do if a lifelong object of love and possession suddenly seems to drift away. That is what Violet Venable (K.H.), the matriach of a wealthy and privileged southern family faced when her only son Sebastian, with whom she traveled on countless summers to the most exotic and alluring places in the world decided to left her and travel along instead with his beautiful cousin Catherine (E.T.). Suddenly Last Summer, he found an untimely dead in the hands of enraged young locals in the south beaches of Spain under the horrified and hopeless presence of his cousin. As the movie unfolds we learned that this charming and wealthy young american have always used his beautiful mother as a bate to attract the attention of young men whenever they traveled and when his mother beauty faded replaced her with his cousin. After his dead and be afraid of scandals in a puritan society that might leak out of poor Catherine disturbed mind, Violet committed her in a mental institution where a young handsome doctor (M.C.) plans on lobotomize her to erase memories. At the end when all is said is done, Catherine emerges as the heroine of this tale and Violet refuges herself in the shadows of her own madness.Superb acting by imperious Katherine Hepburn and very beautiful Elizabeth Taylor. Moty Clift provides a refreshing neutral persona to balance two strong characters in conflict.
Rating:
Summary: Eventually, Last Century
Review: While the over-subtle handling of the film's unstated theme (h_o_m_o ... well, you know! wink! nudge! ... let's just call it
That Subject we didn't discuss cinematically for the better part of the 1900s) may be anathema to modern sensibilities, "Suddenly, Last Summer" remains a dynamic film because of the talents involved in its production. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, it boasts a screenplay written by Williams and Gore Vidal, was directed by the ever-stylish Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir", "All About Eve"), and features an incredible cast led by Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn. Miss Taylor, looking every inch A Movie Star (her beauty is almost impossible to describe), gives a forcefully raw performance in the role of Catherine Holly, whose cousin Sebastian died under mysterious circumstances while the two of them were traveling abroad; while Miss Hepburn, every inch An Actress, is equally fascinating in the role of Sebastian's manipulative mother, Violet Venable. These two actresses, each arguably the biggest star-icon of their generations, are introduced in long individual sequences, and when they finally confront one another, the thespic sparks really begin to ignite the screen! Both received Best Actress Oscar nominations for their performances, and either would have been a worthy winner, but Simone Signoret got the trophy for "Room at the Top", possibly in part because Taylor and Hepburn split the votes. The DVD is yet another example of why Columbia/Tri-Star is the best company at packaging its classic films. The disc offers: both widescreen and full-frame formats; theatrical trailers for this movie and three others ("Pal Joey", "Queen Bee", and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"); a video montage featuring production photographs and scene stills backed up with voice-overs from the soundtrack; a small selection of original release advertising materials; and brief talent files on the director and stars. A superlative disc in both content and presentation, this is one DVD that surely belongs in your classic cinema collection!
Rating: 
Summary: Disturbingly Williams
Review: Williams is known for his vividly drawn, peculiarly repressed characters, of the flavour of incesteous love, but this added hints bizarre decadence and canibalism seems to be one of his most extreme. The hole film has a claustophobia feel about it, the ultimate secret of the last summer replusive, yet the strong performance keep you hypnotised. This was a pairing of Cliff and Taylor (romatic interests off screen at the time) after the filming of RainTree Country. Their offscreen romance was witnessed by the small town Danville, Kentucky as was the night Cliff recked his car. His performances after that period were 'affected' by his addiction on painkillers. The cast battled each other, battled the director, and maybe ulimately, it contributed to the emotionally taught potboiler. Taylor is superb is one of her typically overrought performances, Helpbern perfect as the controlling, overly domanant, maybe incesteous mother of the dead Sebastion, willing to sacrifice the sanity of her neice in order to keep a shrine to her son's memory, Cliff shows the strain of the constant pain, but delivers a very credible performance as the doctor trying to decided just who is sane and who is not. Most definately NOT for everyone.
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