477 - The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, United States, 1961. Dir. Jose Quintero.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

477 - The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, United States, 1961.  Dir. Jose Quintero.

Karen Stone is a great American stage actress.  She has had a great life, with a good career, and a loving husband, and loyal fans.

But she is getting older. And she is trying Shakespeare, As You Like It, for the first time since school.  And she is allowing herself to be filled with self-doubt.

Fear.  One can be free from it, but so often people are not.  They give in.  They yield.  After all, it is a part of life, right?

So Mrs. Stone does more than flinch.  She stops the run of the show.  Her husband, after all, is a co-producer and has the power to pull the plug.  And he loves her, so he agrees to take her on a vacation to Rome, where they can get away and rest and recover.

The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Stone is portrayed as loving and stable and good.  For twenty years.

So when he dies suddenly on board the plane above the Atlantic Ocean, Mrs. Stone is heartbroken.  And the viewer is heartbroken for her.

And quite frankly, relieved.

Because we have seen Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty on the cover and in the opening credits, we already suspect that there will be an affair between them.  And we do not wish her to cheat on her husband.  Not this woman.  Not with this husband.  They are too good and true to one another.  So if this had turned out to be that kind of movie, then we would have been disappointed and unmoved.

So for her to be a widow and heartbroken and lonely, it makes more sense.

And then we watch as it plays out.

Here is a story by Tennessee Williams.  Not a play but a novella.  Dealing with the struggles of fame and money and and aging and talent and doubt.

Here is a film directed by Jose Quintero, a stage director, directing the only film he would ever make.

Here is Warren Beatty, up and coming, having now filmed his first film, Splendor in the Grass (1961), but as it has not yet been released, he has never yet been seen by the movie-going public.  He struggles with his Italian accent, but he otherwise embodies the kind of Lothario that his character, the gigolo Paolo di Leo, was intended to be.

Here is Lotte Lenya, two years before she pulls a stiletto from her stiletto, or rather, a knife from her shoe, as Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love (1963), now as the female pimp Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales pushing Paolo onto Mrs. Stone in order to extract money from her.

Here is Jill St. John, who herself would play in a Bond film, as Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), acting as the young American movie star, in the beginning stages of usurping Mrs. Stone's place in the American consciousness, as Eve would do Margo in All About Eve (1950), though without intent or malice.

And here is Vivien Leigh.  One of the great ones.  Gone with the Wind (1939).  Waterloo Bridge (1940).  Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).  Anna Karenina (1948).  A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).  Ship of Fools (1965).

Twenty years married to Lawrence Olivier.  Many roles live on stage.

Her marriage now dissolving.  Her health in decline.  Her own death just a few years away.  Standing as elegantly and self-possessed as ever.  Playing the layers of nuance in the role.

This is a poignant film.  It is a steadily paced and quiet.  It takes its time.  It addresses serious themes.

Its production design is majestic.  The steps and statues and fountains of Rome.  Magnificent interiors.  Wall paper.  Drapes.  Paintings.  Furniture.  Carpets.

And clothing.

We spend time just watching Mrs. Stone, so graceful, so refined, walking the streets of Rome, working through her grief, dealing with her loneliness.  She has lost her two loves--her husband and the theater--and she is finding her new life.

We think of Ingrid Bergman in Naples in Roberto Rossellini's Journey to Italy (1954).

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We think of Katharine Hepburn in Venice in David Lean's Summertime (1965).

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All three movies about intelligent and cultured women travelling to Italy and undergoing inner development while looking at the sites.  We watch them watch things.  And people.

But they are also all different.

And in this one, if you are patient, and if you pay attention, you will experience what Tennessee Williams is sharing with others.  From his heart to yours.

The lonely soul.  The fading heart.  A great life now on the wane.  In need of love.

Allow it to takes its time with you.

And see that Vivien Leigh, towards the end of her life, was as great as she had ever been.