DVD & Video

Compare Prices

Compare All Prices

Explore Similar

Summertime - Criterion Collection

Product Details
Product Reviews
Compare Prices

Email | Print | Share

Product Details

There was a time before Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago when David Lean made smaller, more effortlessly picturesque movies, and this splendid Venetian travelogue and love story is one of them--the last, actually, before the epic onslaught started with the Oscar-winning The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957. "Sometimes I think a schedule in Venice is just, well, all wrong," observes a bewitched tourist to Katharine Hepburn's vacationing spinster near the beginning of Summertime, which is based on Arthur Laurents's play The Time of the Cuckoo. Before the end, however, Jane will have thrown her idealized romantic notions into the canals and embarked on a passionate affair with a married art dealer (Rossano Brazzi). More blissful than Lean's adulterous fable Brief Encounter 10 years prior, but not entirely guilt- or pain-free, this deceptively simple romance is an often-fascinating glimpse at a time when sexual revolution for Americans--and especially middle-aged women--was confined to fanciful European trysts. Plus, with all the architecture, art, Italian conversation, music, and fine cuisine around you (all richly photographed on location by Jack Hildyard), who's to pish-posh a furtive all-nighter between one repressive country and a free-loving one? The two leads are graceful and even musical in their movements and line deliveries. Hepburn's initial outrage at the idea that illicit love is part of her impossibly beautiful surroundings may at first seem outdated, but the Academy Award-winning actress is too good not to suggest as well the poignant, deep fear her character has of opening up emotionally to anybody. Ultimately, Summertime is the movie equivalent of a deep, satisfying sigh. --Robert Abele

Product Reviews

(5 stars) - Still a Gem
Fell in love with this movie as a kid...okay, maybe I didn't "get" it all back then, but I sure did fall in love with Venice. So, when I became that "spinster schoolteacher", it even became more of an iconic film for me! I finally travelled to Venice in the Fall of 2006. I watched the film (on an old video tape) before and after going. It remains a most special film for me. The story may be a little hokey, but it is well done. Katharine Hepburn is sublime, Rossano Brazzi is dreamy, but, for me, Venice will always be the real star!!

(5 stars) - Kate Hepburn Favorite!!!
This is my all-time favorite movie--period!!! So, I was devastated to find that my VCR copy had lost a lot of color and sound. Thanks to Amazon, I found this new DVD copy to enjoy.

Ruth Bradley

(5 stars) - warm memories
I was in Venice the summer of 1955 when this was filmed.

It brought back warm memories of my visit there.

Doc Maynard

(5 stars) - The Ultimate Venice Tour
Even though the movie is nearly sixty years old very little in Venice has changed. Anyone planning a trip to Venice will benefit from seeing this movie since it perfectly captures the atmosphere they can experience for themselves. You can still visit the location where Hepburn falls in to the canal and the shop that was temporarilly turned into Rossano Brazzi's antique shop. The storyline does not overwhelm the visual experience of the city.

(2 stars) - Summertime, but not all the time
I bought this because of Hepburn and Venice and on those two counts I was not disappointed. The views of the city are outstanding and Ms. Hepburn's remarkable independence shines through. However, the story is stilted by the conventions of the era and David Lean's direction was so uneven it made Hepburn's character look kooky. Finally, I was uncomfortable with the way the movie tells the story of a woman longing for romance in (possibly) the most romantic city on earth, how she stumbles onto it, how she doesn't seem to really enjoy what she's found, then leaves the city broken hearted...just kind of blah.

Compare Prices

Explore Similar

Summertime - Criterion Collection

Product Details

Product Reviews

Popular Searches in DVD