Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

 Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "Suddenly, Last Summer"

American cinema in the 1950s can best be remembered by colorful musicals, the exemplary period for Westerns, and the gothic adaptations of Tennessee Williams novels. To close out the decade, Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed an adaptation of Williams's 1958 play "Suddenly, Last Summer," starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Katharine Hepburn. The resulting film had an odd tone, a prolonged amount of dialogue, and a stiff Clift who was chastised for his less-than-satisfactory performance.

The film centers on Clift's character, Dr. Cukrowicz, a lobotomist who is hired by Hepburn's Cathy, a wealthy widower, to operate on her niece, Taylor's Violet. Violet is institutionalized for emotional disturbance related to the death of her cousin (Cathy's son), Sebastian. Dr. Cukrowicz, rather than being eager to operate on Violet, wants to investigate the truth of what really happened last summer that caused the sudden and mysterious death of Sebastian.

Typically, I find Tennessee Williams adaptations to be more than satisfactory. Films like "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" are dialogue-heavy ensembles that deal with broken people trying and failing to repair their fractured relationships. While the same is true for "Suddenly, Last Summer," the film comes across as more of a physiological thriller, making the heaviness of the dialogue that much more detracting from the psychological elements.

The film felt very up-and-down for me. There were moments that I was on the edge of my seat, leaning forward to fall into the mystery of the missing character's death. Then, there were moments that I was rolling my eyes over some of the contrivances and exasperating, drawn-out over-explanations of motives and perspectives. 

However, what tipped the film more into the 'up' category, for me, was its central thematic idea. In one moment, Hepburn's Cathy describes her son 'seeing the face of God.' By this, she refers to a scene on a beach in which birds and devouring baby turtles trying to make it to the shore, thereby illustrating a lack of God or a cruelty of nature. This plays out with the characters, all attempting to use each other for their own selfish whims. Even Violet's own mother is willing to commit her to a fatal brain operation if it means securing the will money from Sebastian's death. The film really nails the bleak undertone of cruelty of the characters and the blackness of life.

 Of course, Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor are the stand-outs, making a feast of their performances. Clift, on the other hand, can feel a bit stiff and disengaging. This was apparent during the filming, as Clift became exhausted over the incredibly long takes of dialogue. His stiffness resulting in conflict between him and director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who caught the ire of Hepburn, swooping in to protect Clift. Despite this, the performances of the two leading women resulted in Academy Award nominations for both.

Despite "Suddenly Last Summer" being a bit up-and-down, I still come away from it feeling a sense of satisfaction. Although it is not the best adaptation of a Tennessee Williams novel I've ever seen, it still manages to engage and pull you into its noirish bleakness and psychological confusion.