The film Summer Horror/ Summer Obsession/ Last Summer Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) Blu-ray edition cover
Last Summer, Last Summer is also a film adapted by Tennessee Williams, and the storyline is complex and somewhat obscure, but the performances of Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor, Kathleen Katharine Hepburn and others are very well represented in the film. Catherine Hepburn plays Mrs. Venapo, a noblewoman in the South, who thinks her young niece Catherine Holly, played by Elizabeth Taylor, is crazy and wants to ask Cookvich, a neurosurgeon played by Montgomery Clift, to perform a forecobaitectomy for her to treat her mental breakdown.
The story of "Summer Horror" is very strong, although the film involves homosexuality, madness, murder, evil and other themes, because the social atmosphere at that time was conservative, so it was hazy. The film retains almost entirely the form of the play.
What would the tormented Catherine say? Catherine, a young girl played by Elizabeth Taylor, has a nervous breakdown after witnessing the accidental death of her cousin Sebastian while on vacation, and her aunt, Mrs. Venapo, tries to get Catherine to undergo a lobotomy in order to hide the fact that her son Sebastian is gay. In this play, Gay Sebastian's mother is really a complete pervert, but from the current point of view, Catherine Hepburn is not acting vicious enough, and it would be more like Betty Davis Bette Davis to play.
Stills from the movie Summer Horror/ Summer Obsession/ Last Summer Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).
The film was directed by Joseph M. Directed by L. Mankiewicz, Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor both received Oscar nominations for Best Actress for the film, but ultimately lost to Simone Signoret, actress Simone Signoret, the actress of "Tears of the Golden House/High SocietyRoom at the Top" (1959).
Sam Spiegel, producer of Summer Horror, prepared in 1958 to package Tennessee Williams' play Summer Horror to Columbia and have Elizabeth Taylor starring. At the same time, he also named Catherine Hepburn. The play was created by Tennessee Williams in 1957 and became a sensation. He uses his drug-addicted characters to reflect his own fears and guilt. His greatest fears came from dying from drug overdose and same-sex promiscuity.
Tennessee Williams considered her most unforgivable sin to be to allow his mother to remove her sister Rose's forebrain white matter (much the same as the story of Summer Horror), whose condition deteriorated after surgery and spent the rest of her life incapacitated. This failed surgery also directly contributed to Tennessee Williams' later drunkenness, and many paranoid female characters appeared in Tennessee Williams' plays. And "Summer Horror" is a direct embodiment of his guilt and self-blame.
Twenty years later, Tennessee Williams still loves and hates her mother. The result of the playwright's inner struggles and introspection is the advent of "Summer Horror". The story tells that Kukovich, a neurosurgeon, is pressured by the domineering noblewoman Vinapo to undergo a forebrain leukotomy on her niece, Catherine. In fact, she is just anxious and not really out of order. The price of the operation is that if the doctors can stop Catherine's nonsense (Catherine knows the mystery of the death of Mrs. Venapo's son Sebastian), then the hospital will receive a large sum of money.
Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor in the film Summer Horror / Summer Obsession / Last Summer Last Summer (1959), from these two different angles of the photo, in the same scene, so many people on the scene can not stop Elizabeth Taylor for the role to explode the acting skills
In fact, the real secret is that Sebastian likes to look for teenagers at the beach, doing the work of a strange shu, when discovered, and finally beaten to death, these are witnessed by cousin Catherine, scared Catherine crazy (in fact, nervous), Mrs. Venapo to silence her mouth, find a doctor to do a leukotomy for Catherine. In the end, Catherine spoke it all up. Now knowing that Tennessee Williams' heavy taste is not a fake.
After getting the filming rights, Sam Spiegel wanted Catherine Hepburn to play Mrs. Vinapo, on the condition that she could not hang the top card. That seat was to be given to Elizabeth Taylor, who played her daughter Catherine, who was the world's number one box office star. The last time Catherine Hepburn condescended to the second place in the film was in 1933. Elizabeth Taylor wanted her friend Montgomery Clift to play the role of neurosurgeon. Although Montgomery Clift was at a low point in his career due to alcohol and drug abuse, he was still on a par with Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. But there's an insurance problem here. If a star may suddenly not be able to perform on a contract, a big company won't hire you.
On the set of the film Summer Horror/ Summer Obsession/ Last Summer Last Summer (1959), Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Montgomery Clift were in their respective dressing rooms.
Sam Spiegel prepares to insure Montgomery Clift for good health. Montgomery Clift's first renunciation. The second time he showed up, but it was quiet and scary. The doctor in charge of health insurance made a muttering, thinking montgomery Clifford might be in a deep sleep. Declared uninsurable. In desperation, Sam Spiegel used him anyway. Afterwards, all the crew members flew to London, and only Sam Spiegel the Old Fox went to the office of the Hayes Code Authority and cheated Geoffrey Sherlock of the approval seal from Jeffrey Sherlock, who had no liking for the script.
Recalling that incident, Sam Spiegel said, "Sexual perversion or any related hint is prohibited," Jeffrey Sherlock told him, and director Joseph Spiegel said. L. Mankiewicz couldn't shoot that scene. In the play, Catherine reveals that Sebastian has superpowers to use her and her mother to recruit teenagers to play sex games. The episode, which comes from Sebastian's flashbacks, shows him realizing that he is no longer young and has lost his superpowers. And those who have been toyed with by him, seeing his current weakness, have attacked him in groups and punished him in an indescribable way. This film tells the story of a group of devils.
In the movie Summer Horror/ Summer Obsession/ Last Summer Last Summer (1959), Montgomery Clift's appearance is obviously off-line, which makes people sigh
Totalitarian mothers, cruel homosexuals, promiscuous criminals. Jeffrey Sherlock was clearly not receptive to this. Sam Spiegel did not take Jeffrey Sherlock's advice, and Sam Spiegel told Joseph Spiegel directly. L. Mankiewicz began filming. At this time, the director Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz was busy dealing with Montgomery Clift.
Even when sober, Montgomery Clift was causing trouble. At a gathering of film crew members, Montgomery Clift not only talked gibberish but also threw tableware on the table. Elizabeth Taylor had tried to appease him, but she had her own problems. Her third husband, producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash for a year, has been in grief and has just married married singer Eddie Fisher. Mercedes McCambridge Mercedes McCambridge plays Elizabeth Taylor's mother in the film.
Mercedes McCumbretch recalls, "Elizabeth Taylor, always missed Mike Todd. And Catherine Hepburn was also struggling with Spencer Qusay Spencer Tracy's illness. Directed by Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz's hands seemed to have skin diseases, so he always wore gloves. It's hard to imagine screenwriter Gore Vidal or Tennessee Williams being the kind of person who is particularly happy. Of course, Montgomery Clift was afflicted. Everyone involved in the film is suffering and showing it all. ”
Summer Horror opened on 25 May 1959 in studios in Spearden, fifty-five miles southwest of London. It's the height of summer and the heat is rolling in. To drive away the heat, Montgomery Clifte brought his own thermos. It's filled with refreshing fruit wine. Screenwriter Edward Ancht unfortunately took a sip, "What the hell is this?" He asked with a grin.
"Bourbon, crushed analgesics, and fresh juice," Montgomery Clift replied with a smile.
Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz has been cold to Montgomery Krieft since the "staff dinner" incident. Now, once he's trembling, forgetting words, or emptying, director Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz would tell the producers to prepare for a substitution. Sam Spiegel asked Elizabeth Taylor to talk to Montgomery Clift. "I tried it, it didn't work." She replied. Katherine Hepburn then took the initiative to take care of him.
Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz disliked Catherine Hepburn, but began to get close to Elizabeth Taylor.com. "Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz seems eager to win elizabeth Taylor's favor," Sam Spiegel said, "but he didn't have enough respect for Catherine Hepburn." Catherine Hepburn believes that the director's public talk of abandoning Montgomery Krieft was too cruel to him. However, the trouble of personal problems actually made Elizabeth Taylor's performance in front of the camera. Especially the monologue of the climactic paragraph.
On the set of the film Summer Horror/ Summer Obsession/ Last Summer, Last Summer, director Joseph Scott Joseph L. Mankiewicz (right) was always harsh on Katharine Katharine Hepburn's performances
At the end of the ten-minute line, Elizabeth Taylor began to cry. It's a true outpouring. Colleagues who were present rushed to comfort her and encourage her. But she stopped the grief, pushed everyone away, and ran into the dressing room alone. One day, after Catherine Hepburn finished her performance, she walked up to director Joseph Hepburn. L. Mankiewicz came forward and faced him and asked, "Are you sure you're done shooting?" And repeated it three times. When he confirmed that he didn't need to reshoot. Catherine Hepburn paused, then jumped up and gave him a slap. In this way, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the director. Leave immediately.
And from the director Joseph M. In L. Mankiewicz's autobiography, there is a different version of the story: Joseph Mankiewicz L. Mankiewicz had several times asked producer Sam Spiegel to fire him because of Montgomery Clift's distraught crappy performances. Elizabeth Taylor always reiterated, "I will go when he goes." "For the filming process director Joseph M. L. Mankiewicz's attitude toward Montgomery Clift was so disgusting to Katherine Hepburn that when there was no more shooting assignment after the film was completed, she went directly to director Joseph Hepburn. L. Mankiewicz spat on his face.
The film was officially released on December 22, 1959. This is thanks to Sam Spiegel. It was he who decided to delete a line, one shot after the other, that finally settled the Hayes Code Authority. The line is, "We're going to prostitute him." The deleted scene shows two red-backed boys stroking each other. This kind of censorship seems to be only a façade, and it can fool no one. "I reckon the youngest audience sitting below can understand what's going on on the screen." Pauling Kerr once wrote. Indeed, they understood, and immediately ran to tell their friends who made the film. A similar situation occurred with Psycho/Psycho (1960), one of the highest-grossing films of 1960. "Variety" commented that "Summer Horror" is, "the most grotesque movie ever made by a big Hollywood company." "Suddenly, one summer (this is the title of "Summer Horror"), two horror movies popped up, and there was a creepy insane mother in it.
"Summer Horror" seems to revolve around a neurosurgeon treating the crazy girl Catherine, but the root behind it is Sebastian, a gay young man who died at the beginning of the story. The film's depiction of homosexuality is very obscure, and its mother, Mrs. Venapo, masks her son's sexual attitude, confirming the rejection of homosexuality in society at that time. This is the real environment of American society in the late 1950s.
Blue-ray poster cover for the movie Summer Horror/ Summer Last Summer( Last Summer).