Author-screenwriter Gavin Lambert, who died last July at age 80, is being honored by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with the series "A Tribute to Gavin Lambert," which kicks off on Friday at the Leo S. Bing Theater. The first two films of the series are The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961, above) and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), both of which Lambert co-adapted from novels.
Based on Tennessee Williams' novel and directed by Jose Quintero, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone follows an aging actress, delicately played by Vivien Leigh, as she looks for both companionship and her lost youth in the streets of Rome. She succeeds in her quest — well, sort of — after finding a self-centered Italian gigolo (a ridiculously miscast Warren Beatty). Not a great movie by any means, but Leigh's performance alone is enough to recommend it.
Directed by Anthony Page and adapted from Joanne Greenberg's novel, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden chronicles the inner life of a young woman suffering from schizophrenia. Kathleen Quinlan and one of Ingmar Bergman's frequent collaborators, Bibi Andersson, star. Also in the cast are veterans Sylvia Sidney and Signe Hasso. Lambert and Lewis John Carlino received an Oscar nomination for their screenplay.
I met Gavin Lambert while doing research for my book on actor Ramon Novarro. Besides being quite helpful, Lambert was an inspiration. His Norma Shearer biography remains the best of all show-business bios I've read. (Patricia Neal's As I Am: An Autobiography — actually penned by Richard DeNeut — is my favorite "auto" biography.)
I agree. Though not one of the greatest movies of the 1960s, "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" is a good psychological drama with some excellent performances.
Warren Beatty is one of its weak points, but Vivien Leigh is simply magnificent.
"The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" is a very underrated movie. Vivien Leigh is great in it, and so is Lotte Lenya.
Critics should take another look at Mrs. Stone.