In this lush, lurid adaptation of the 1957 Tennessee Williams one-act, Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn play a seemingly insane, young New Orleans debutante and the wealthy aunt who wants to lobotomize her. Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) is a gifted Chicago brain surgeon stymied by the primitive operating .. Read more
| Starring | Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn, Mercedes McCambridge |
|---|---|
| Director | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Genres | Drama, Thriller |
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In this lush, lurid adaptation of the 1957 Tennessee Williams one-act, Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn play a seemingly insane, young New Orleans debutante and the wealthy aunt who wants to lobotomize her. Dr. John Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) is a gifted Chicago brain surgeon stymied by the primitive operating conditions at the New Orleans asylum where he works. Society matron Violet Venable (Hepburn) offers a solution in the form of a million-dollar grant -- as long as Cukrowicz will treat her niece, Catherine (Taylor). Catherine, it seems, has been institutionalized since the sudden death of her cousin, Violet's son, Sebastian, overseas the previous summer. As the young doctor tries to get to the bottom of what happened to Catherine, Violet's steely demeanor and devotion to Sebastian present a formidable barrier. Catherine herself doesn't offer much help, her recollections jumbled by medication and the trauma of Sebastian's demise. Under pressure to seal the deal and cut into Catherine's brain, Cukrowicz's principles (and attraction to the young woman) prevent him from proceeding until he uncovers what actually happened to Sebastian. In his memoirs, Gore Vidal claims to have written the screenplay for Suddenly, Last Summer single-handedly, although Williams took half the credit. Vidal toned down the original play's allusions to pedophilia, cannibalism, and incest, but the film nonetheless provoked heated controversy. As for the cast, an unhappy Hepburn reportedly was threatened by the attention lavished on Taylor by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whom Hepburn had hired to produce The Philadelphia Story two decades earlier. Mankiewicz, for his part, allegedly hated Clift, whose drinking and partial paralysis from an auto accident prevented him from working more than half a day at a time.~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
| Starring | Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Katharine Hepburn, Mercedes McCambridge, Gary Raymond, Albert Dekker, Maria Britneva, Joan Young |
|---|---|
| Director | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Studio | SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 50 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Genres | Drama, Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | German, French, Spanish, Italian |
| Subtitles | DVD: Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish |
| Released | Production year: 1959 To Rent: DVD: 11 Nov 2002 |
Arty flashback talk-piece from a one-act play, padded out with much sub-poetic mumbo jumbo; it takes too long to get to the revelation, which is ambiguously presented anyway.
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Hepburn Taylor Clift? - Go on then....
When a film opens with Katharine Hepburn descending a Rocky Horror-type elevator to greet partially-paralysed Montgomery Clift in a garden of carnivorous plants... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
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Tennessee Williams films
The films made from the plays of Tennessee Williams, watered down as they were, provide gripping adult entertainment. Underlying themes of homosexuality,... read more »
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Suddenly Last Summer
If you like Tennessee Williams then you will like this very 50's version of his play. Elizabeth Taylor and especially Katherine Hepburn are excellent. The... read more »
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Suddenly Last Summer
This was a really good film, I am not a Liz Taylor fan, always thought she was a bit blousey! Anyway, she gave a very good potrayal of a disturbed girl, I was... read more »
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