Product Description

This delicately handled love story was legendary director David Lean's first colour film and his own personal favourite. Katherine Hepburn shines in the leading role and both director and star were nominated for Oscars. American spinster Jane Hudson has finally saved enough to take the trip of a lifetime and she hopes Venice will bring a spark of magic into her life. Overwhelmed by the beauty of her surroundings her holiday becomes all the more special when she encounters a charming antiques dealer and is soon swept of her of her feet. Could this be the romance she has waited her whole life for?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8434 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-08-06
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Synopsis
A spinster discovers the love and passion she has been missing on a trip to Venice. A chance encounter with a suave antiques dealer could be the beginning of a romance she has been craving her whole life.

Customer Reviews

One of Lean's best
David Lean was one of the greatest film-makers of all time, and to say that this is one of his best is to say that it stands comparison with Brief Encounter, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter...etc...

It's one of his more low-key, intimate films, but there is a kind of epic grandeur in the way it captures Venice's beauty, investing the city with more magic and romance than it has had in any other film.

Katharine Hepburn gives the best performance of her career. At worst she could be monotonous, strident, harsh - but this is her at her best, funny, shy, even heart-breaking at times. So many directors lacked the imagination to find anything in her but the caricture Hepburn, the wilful, caustic persona that became over-familiar and wearisome. Here she gives an unusually layered and sensitive performance - at once an old-fashioned spinster and an excitable young girl finding love for the first time.

Why this film has never been released on any home video format in this country before (in the US, it was one of Criterion's earliest releases), is utterly baffling. No film buff will be disappointed. Forget any preconceptions about this being a frothy, rainy afternoon, throwaway romance. It's a bona fide masterpiece.

summertime- An underated little gem
Made in 1955. Summertime was made by David Lean, the great British film director, prior to his epics - Bridge on the river Kwai, Laurence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago.It's a simple, straight forward love story and a lovely character piece. Brilliantly acted by Katherine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. It will probably be too slow for modern audiences.If you like Leans film, Brief Encounter then you'll really like this, if not, best avoid. It's also worth mentioning Jack Hildyards stunning cinematography, which adds another layer to this simple story of an American spinster who goes to Venice and falls in love with an Italian shopkeeper.
All in all a little gem that's well worth discovering.

Lean, Hepburn and Venice at their best
This is a beautifully crafted movie. The theme is simple enough but it is beautifully execute with a subtlety than the current crop of movie makers seem entirely unable to muster. On the one hand this is perhaps less damning than it first appears as Lean was a major talent of the first order and Hepburn was at the height of her talent, a real movie star of lasting power which we definitely do not have now. On the otherhand though is seems that Hollywood has been entirely given over to soulless moneymen (& women) who are only looking at the bottom line and that is tragic.

My initial motivation for search this movie out recently, although I had seen it years ago, was the location. Rarely has a location been so beautifully made one of the stars of a movie. Prior to my recent holiday there I watched Summer Madness (to give it its proper British title) and was blown away by the beauty of Venice. When I got there I was not disappointed the place is as beautiful and wonderful as I expected and more. The shop featured in the movie still sell postcards with stills from the movie and to stand on the edge of the canal the Hepburn fell into makes you really feel a connection with the movie.

My recommendation here is to buy the movie and, if you can afford to, take a trip to Venice to see for yourself, but go in early spring or autumn (October in Venice was warm and lovely.

This has become one of my favourite films; I love it!