Suddenly, Last Summer
Suddenly, Last Summer is a 1959 Southern Gothic psychological drama mystery film based on the 1958 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift with Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge, and Gary Raymond. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Sam Spiegel from a screenplay by Gore Vidal and Williams with cinematography by Jack Hildyard and production design by Oliver Messel. The musical score was composed by Buxton Orr, using themes by Malcolm Arnold.
Plot
In 1937 New Orleans, Catherine Holly is a young woman institutionalized for an emotional disturbance related to the death of her cousin, Sebastian Venable, under strange circumstances while they were on summer holiday in Europe. Sebastian's wealthy mother, Violet Venable, makes every effort to suppress the sordid truth surrounding her son's demise. As a bribe to the state hospital's administrator, Lawrence J. Hockstader, Violet offers to finance a new wing for the decrepit and underfunded facility if he promises that brilliant young surgeon, John Cukrowicz, will perform a lobotomy on her niece.
Awards
More details
| author | Gore Vidal Tennessee Williams |
|---|---|
| award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama National Board of Review: Top Ten Films Targa d'Oro |
| contentLocation | New Orleans |
| director | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| editor | Thomas Stanford |
| genre | drama mystery |
| keywords | attack bathing suit beg cause of death cry derange homosexual homosexuality horrify lobotomy northern europe on the beach reject remember scream sexual assault stalk summer holiday talk to remember young woman |
| musicBy | Buxton Orr Malcolm Arnold |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| producer | Sam Spiegel |
| productionCompany | Horizon Pictures |
| publisher | Columbia Pictures |
| recordedAt | Mallorca Spain |
| theme | gothic psycho-biddy |