Truly Dreadful Film

A different way of telling a story

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Those who have seen Tennessee Williams' play "Garden District" on stage will appreciate this probably more than the 1959 Katharine Hepburn/Elizabeth Taylor movie because this is obvious closer to the play than the more famous screen adaption. With just one setting (the grounds of Mrs. Violet Venable's eccentric southern plantation), everything that was fleshed out for the big screen is condensed into two seamless acts where every secret comes out over a short period of time rather than the extended time obviously played out in the movie. Catharine Holly (Natasha Richardson) is the institutionalized niece of Mrs. Venable (Maggie Smith), having suffered a breakdown after Mrs. Venable's son Sebastian was mysteriously killed while they were on vacation together. Obviously obsessively jealous over Catherine's replacement of her on the regular summer holiday she usually took with her son, Violet utilizes psychiatrist Rob Lowe to try and get the memory of what Catherine saw out of her mind so Sebastian's secrets will not be revealed. She utilizes her son's estate to manipulate Catherine's family into going along with the lobotomy, but Catherine is anything but willing to allow herself to become a guinea pig for her wealthy aunt's sake. This sets the drama up for some revealing secrets, already familiar to those who saw the original movie or a stage production, but possibly shocking to others. The usual usage of metaphors and symbolic images from the mind of Tennessee Williams may be convoluted for some, but still makes for powerful theater whether on stage or on screen.To see the legendary Maggie Smith with the wonderful Natasha Richardson (a member of one of England's royal theatrical families) is a treat in itself, and reminds us of the loss of this gem of a young actress way too soon. Richardson is far from Elizabeth Taylor's sex kitten performance from the movie, while Smith is more volatile than Katharine Hepburn's somewhat subdued but sometimes campy version. Like Montgomery Clift in the movie, Rob Lowe is caught between two tigresses, like a puppy among wildcats. The psychiatrist role is not as memorable as the women. The fact that the film does not utilize flashbacks (only a few still shots of what Sebastian looked like years before his death) makes it even more theatrical and increases the power of the drama. The usage of color makes Mrs. Venable's garden much scarier than the original.

Several of Tennessee Williams's friends have told me they thought Suddenly Last Summer was his last great play. I never understood what they meant until I saw the production with Rob Lowe, Natasha Richardson & the others. This production seemed unfamiliar, almost like a totally different play. The language is more elevated and poetic. I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to experience Williams as a serious artist and playwright.For instance, when Violet Venable accuses Catharine Holly of simply "using Sebastian," Natasha Richardson replies (paraphrased)that of course she was using him. "We all use each other all the time. That's what is commonly called love in our society." That is such pure Tennessee Williams but it is also something cut from the script when it was adapted for the big block-buster Hollywood movie with its star-studded cast. It represents the kind of truth that Williams intended to speak that Americans weren't yet ready to hear during the 1950s.

I'm a fan of the original movie with Liz Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift and I knew that the 1959 film was very different from the stage version. This version with Natasha Richardson, Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe seems to stick closer to the original text. The three leads are amazing but the supporting cast seemed to lack direction, grasp the severity of the situation at hand or even know how to really REact to situations. The man playing George (Richard E. Grant) had two modes, loud and frantic and quiet and frantic. When mad he would make the same arm gestures over and over again and showed absolutely no character development. Several times during temper tantrums, he paid no attention to where he was going and almost fell over parts of the set. His mother Ms. Holly (played by Moira Redmond) came off as being not only a ditz, but a drunk one at that and stumbled over many lines. Ms. Foxhill played to absurdity by Gillian Raine was painful to watch. Richardson and Smith were fantastic playing off one another and Lowe was greatly underused. Tennessee Williams wrote many tragic figures into his plays and stories and Catherine, the one in Suddenly, Last Summer was based in part on events that led to his (Tennessee's) sisters lobotomy. It takes a special type of talent and adaptation to pull off Tennessee Williams and the supporting cast missed the mark by such a wide margin that it was difficult to focus on the fantastic performances of the three leads.

"Suddenly, Last Summer" (1993 TV Version) I taped this version way back in 1993 & it is supremely faithful to the text (unlike the original version with Elizabeth Taylor). Maggie Smith is reserved where Katherine Hepburn is effusive. Similarly, Rob Lowe smoulders where Montgomery Clift languished. Natsha Richardson is not Elizabeth Taylor, but the Catherine of the original text is not the Catherine in the original film. The character is not seen until almost halfway through the play; the impact of her story is heightened that much more by her late appearance. Gone are the flashback location shots (mercifully), Natasha Richardson's delivery of her final monologue doesn't need flashbacks, one is able to visualize what she describes perfectly. This is truly superior to the original version.