Joseph L. Mankiewicz Tribute: SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER
Joseph L. Mankiewicz Centennial – Part I
And if Guys and Dolls (1955) was a bore — just about everyone in this film musical is miscast, from Brando to Mankiewicz himself — the director recovered his touch with the adult (and bizarre) Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), a psychotic psychological drama adapted by Gore Vidal and (officially) Tennessee Williams from Williams’s own play. (Williams later said he had nothing to do with the film version.)
The story follows a young woman (Elizabeth Taylor) who is sent to a psychiatric hospital after she suffers a nervous breakdown following some horrific traumatic experience. Things can get quite heady — bad pun intended — when you mix traditional Southern [...]
by Andre Soares | May 1, 2009
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Tags: Arthur Knight, Classic Movies, Cleopatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Garson Kanin, Gay Interest, Gore Vidal, Guys and Dolls, Incest, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Katharine Hepburn, Kenneth L. Geist, Laurence Olivier, Los Angeles Screenings, Marlon Brando, Mercedes McCambridge, Michael Caine, Montgomery Clift, People Will Talk, Psychological Drama, Sleuth, Suddenly Last Summer, Tennessee Williams, The Oney Pot, The Saturday Review, There Was a Crooked Man
Gavin Lambert at LACMA
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 — [...]
