Day 22: Summertime (1955)

David Lean’s “Summertime,” starring Katherine Hepburn, is a romantic film, which embraces the great beauty of Venice, Italy, but ultimately feels like a sour cocktail of harlequin romance and travelogue. An odd choice for the Criterion Collection, the film is lovely enough, but hardly evokes anything to set it apart from others in the ”stranger in a strange land”  genre, such as  ”Roman Holiday” and “The American in Paris” – both far better films. Not only does the film evoke nothing special in its delivery, but it’s also hindered by that old foe time, which had garnered some of the character’s actions unappealing by today’s standards.

“Summertime” tells the tale of Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn), a middle-aged elementary school secretary from Akron, Ohio, who arrives in Venice, Italy for a summer vacation she has saved up for the last several years. Finding herself a bit overwhelmed by the grandeur of it all, Jane soon meets Lloyd and Edith McIlhenny, two Americans, who bring about the full definition of ”tourist,” and they soon realize they all are staying at the same hotel. Comforted with the fact that she’s not alone, Jane, nevertheless, spends most of her days sightseeing by herself- never wanting to impose as a third wheel with the McIlhenny ‘s.

Amongst all the hussle and bussel, Jane finds herself rather lonely until she encounters an Italian shopkeeper named Renato de Rossi (Rossano Brazzi), who woos her into having a good time. The two start of simply enough, but their relationship soon heats up and the two fall in love. All is good in the “city on the water” until Jane makes a unpleasant discovery- Renato is married.

Now let me make something clear. “Summertime” is not a bad film. It’s fun, good humored, and beautiful to look at, but, for a member of the Criterion Collection, it’s surprisingly vanilla in almost all its aspects beyond capturing the look of the Italian landscape. Also, the film has not aged well in many aspects. For one, Jane offers a cigerette to a Italian boy around 12 years-old and, for the remainder of the scene, he just sits their puffing away. Naturally, the times have changed and such an act now looks rather tab00.

Also, from our very first encounter with Renato, we are set to distrust him as he gazes at Jane from a distance and the camera, depicting his eyeline, lingers over her legs to the point it feels uncomfortable. Back in the mid-fifties, such an oogle might not have raised the ire of many, especially in an almost all male Hollywood system, but today such a depiction of shots are used to give the audience the impression that a certain character is a “womanizer” or, at the very least, a “player.”

But, like almost every film, there is a good behind-the-scenes story. At one point in the film, Katherine Hepburn’s Jane falls into a Venice canal, drenching herself and her ego, but Mis. Hepburn, concerned for her health in the dirty water, considered having a stunt double perform the action. Lean pleaded with her to do it, as it would look poor on camera if we didn’t get her reaction from falling in, and he went as far to dump disinfectant onto the spot she was to fall. Still hesitant, Hepburn performed the stunt and, low and behold, that very night her eyes began to itch and tear. With that one fall into the icky Venice city water, Hepburn contracted a rare form of conjunctivitis, which she battled with for the rest of her life.

“Summertime,” starring the great Katherine Hepburn and directed by David Lean, is a fun jaunt of escapisim, but not much else. Some may consider my thoughts on the negative side, but truly all I’m saying is that this little film won’t stay with you very long-unlike conjunctivits.

To learn more about “Summertime,” check Criterion’s page here.

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