Summertime

David Lean began his transition to epics with Summertime (1955), a routine melodrama shot on a large, colorful scale. With wonderful Technicolor photography on location in Venice, Lean creates a gorgeous film that transcends its formulaic roots. It also contains one of Katharine Hepburn's best performances.

Jane Hudson (Katharine Hepburn), an American school teacher, goes to Venice, Italy on vacation. Though she finds the city beautiful, the introverted Jane feels lonely and isolated, unable to connect with fellow tourists or become immersed in the city. She then meets Renaldo (Rossano Brazzi), a handsome shop-keeper, and the two begin a passionate affair. Jane is conflicted when she learns Renaldo is married, but afraid of losing her last chance at romance, she continues seeing him until her vacation comes to an abrupt end.

The plot is basically Roman Holiday Meets Brief Encounter and yet Summertime overcomes its unoriginality. Most potently, it's a wonderful depiction of loneliness. The middle-aged Jane, an introverted spinster, finds herself overwhelmed by Venice: the incredible beauty around her makes her isolation unbearable. She can film Venice, but she cannot truly enjoy it - a situation this blogger can certainly relate to. The film settles for fairly routine, if well-done, melodrama in the second half, but it's pleasant enough to get away with it. If there's anyone who can handle trite romance, it's David Lean.

Lean and camera man Jack Hildyard do a magnificent job. The exhaustive, Technicolor location shooting captures Venice in its ravishing glory. The movie has no end of astonishing images, from Jane falling into the canal to a fireworks show that would make Alfred Hitchcock green with envy. Even the small touches - such Jane's gardenia falling into a moon-lit canal - are brilliant. Whenever the story flags, Lean and Hildyard at least make sure there's something interesting to look at.

Katharine Hepburn is marvelous. Often an obnoxious and grating screen presence, she dials done her usual mannerisms and gives a wonderfully subdued performance. Her sense of loneliness is palpable and poignant: her quickie romance would not be believable if Hepburn hadn't so convicingly portrayed Jane's isolation and quiet, middle-aged desperation. Bravo, Kate.

The supporting cast isn't up to much. Rossano Brazzi (South Pacific) is a handsome but one-dimensional "Latin lover", a hoary old stereotype given little here. Isa Miranda (Bay of Blood) does what she can with an underwitten part. Darren McGavin (A Christmas Story), Mari Aldon (The Barefoot Contessa), Jane Rose and MacDonald Parke play less-than-endearing Ugly Americans, and child actor Gaetano Autero straddles the line between cute and annoying.

Summertime isn't one of Lean's masterpieces, but it's still a gorgeous, well-made romance. If nothing else, it deserves credit for making Kate Hepburn sympathetic rather than punchable, and that's about the highest praise I can give.