Tonight I watched Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), a drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film is based off of a one-act play by Tennessee Williams. It is produced by Sam Spiegel, an Oscar-winning producer responsible for such popular films as On The Waterfront (1954) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The leading all-star cast is made up of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Montgomery Clift.
I wasn't sure at all what to expect when I decided to DVR this film. My main reason for doing so had to do with the fact that it was a film that starred both Hepburn and Taylor, women well-known for being two of the best actresses to ever live. Presently, I haven't seen so much of their work, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Little did I know I would be so intrigued by my introduction to actor Montgomery Clift, someone who I knew nothing about beforehand. The man is most-definitely a great actor. Now I'm planning on buying myself a copy of From Here To Eternity (1953), since I saw it in the store the other day for only $10. It's also part of a "Buy-One-Get-One-Free" sale. Can't go wrong with that!
The plot of the film holds up really well. The film added things to the story that were not there in the original play, but that mustn't have been an issue for Williams since he wrote the screenplay together with Gore Vidal. I never read the play itself, but I have a gut feeling that the film did a good job of recreating it. A reason I feel this way is because the film is very dialogue-driven, containing more than a few scenes that are serious long-takes. I was impressed with the film's ability to keep my attention through the use of these scenes. It shows good craftsmanship on behalf of the writing team and furthermore proves that Williams really knows what he's doing.
Overall, the acting was very well-executed. Both Hepburn and Taylor received Oscar nominations for Best Actress and I think that the Academy made a very good decision with that. I would say that Taylor was more the leading actress. She had more time on the screen and the story primarily focuses on her character. The only previous film I've seen of Taylor was 1950's Father of the Bride, alongside Spencer Tracy. I loved the film, but it was during Suddenly, Last Summer that I was hit with the fact of how absolutely gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor really was back then. She really carries the whole package, being both a great actress and a sexual icon and having both be so off the charts. Taylor really shines in certain scenes in the film, not to mention the last 20 minutes or so which is basically a a straight-up monologue, helped to increase its beauty by the juxtapositions and superimpositions that come with it as she describes what really happened the previous summer.
I never knew anything about Montgomery Clift before watching this film. After reading up on him, he seems to be one of the most interesting actors in terms of his life story. After a car accident he had on his way home from a party at Elizabeth Taylor's home (she actually saved him from choking by yanking two teeth out of his throat!), the actor got heavily involved with drugs and alcohol. His post-accident days are looked upon as a kind of downward spiral that eventually led to his early death at the age of 46. Director Mankiewicz and producer Spiegel did not like him much at all, due to the facts that he was a homosexual and could only film for a few hours a day. Hepburn was so disgusted by the way Clift was treated that when she was finished with everything she had to do for the film, she supposedly spit in both of their faces! I swear, you have to love Katharine and her superiority.
