Summer and Smoke *** (1961, Laurence Harvey, Geraldine Page, Rita Moreno, John McIntire, Pamela Tiffin, Thomas Gomez, Earl Holliman, Lee Patrick, Malcolm Atterbury) – Classic Movie Review 10,418

Geraldine Page (1924–1987).

Director Peter Glenville’s fiery 1962 drama of repressed love Summer and Smoke offers more Tennessee Williams Southern poetic passion, with Geraldine Page grabbing her chance to repeat her off-Broadway role as a hurt and fading Mississippi spinster, Alma Winemiller.

It is 1916, and Alma Winemiller is aroused by handsome young doctor John Buchanan Jr (Laurence Harvey), whom she has loved since childhood, and is fighting with her repressive parents Mrs Winemiller (Una Merkel) and the reverend Winemiller (Malcolm Atterbury). But fiery Rosa Zacharias (Rita Moreno) is really more the kind of gal for Dr Buchanan, who has fallen hard for the rural small town’s sultry vamp.

The sizzling performances raise a lot of smoke, even if it is not Williams’s best play or a very cinematic treatment of it, though that is not entirely a problem as the screenplay by James Poe and Meade Roberts, and the performances largely carry it.

It was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Actress, the second of eight Oscar nominations (after Hondo, 1953), for Page, who finally won with The Trip to Bountiful (1985). She won the 1962 Golden Globe for Best Actress – Drama. She went straight on to Williams’s Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) and another Oscar nomination.

Una Merkel was Oscar nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, her only ever Oscar nominated performance.

Also in the cast are John McIntire, Pamela Tiffin, Rita Moreno, Thomas Gomez, Earl Holliman, Lee Patrick, Malcolm Atterbury, Max Showalter [Casey Adams], Harry Shannon, Marjorie Bennett, Pattee Chapman, Jester Hairston, Pepe Hern and Dick Ryan.

Summer and Smoke is directed by Peter Glenville, runs 118 minutes, is made by Hal Wallis Productions, is released by Paramount, is written by James Poe and Meade Roberts, based on the play by Tennessee Williams, is shot in Panavision and Technicolor by Charles Lang Jr, is produced by Hal B Wallis, is scored by Elmer Bernstein, and is designed by Walter Tyler and Hal Pereira.

It was shot at Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,418

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