Summertime

An American spinster’s dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome—but married—Italian man while vacationing in Venice. Katharine Hepburn’s sensitive portrayal of the lonely heroine and Jack Hildyard’s glorious Technicolor photography make Summertime an endearing and visually enchanting film.

David Lean
United States
1955
100 minutes
Color
1.33:1
English
Spine #22

Special Features

The original theatrical trailer

New cover by Gordon Reynolds

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Special Features

The original theatrical trailer

New cover by Gordon Reynolds

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Cast & Credits

Cast

Katharine Hepburn: Jane Hudson
Rossano Brazzi: Renato De Rossi
Darren McGavin: Eddie Yaeger
Jane Rose: Mrs. McIlhenny
Mari Aldon: Phyl Yaeger
MacDonald Parke: Mr. McIlhenny

Credits

Director: David Lean
Producer: Ilya Lopert
Editing: Peter Taylor
Cinematography: Jack Hildyard
Screenplay: H.E. Bates
Screenplay: David Lean
From the original play by: Arthur Laurents
Associate producer: Norman Spencer
Production design: Vincent Korda
Music: Alessandro Cicognini

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Explore

David Lean

Director

For many cinephiles, the name David Lean signifies grand moviemaking—sweeping epics like Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. But the long and eclectic career of this legendary British director encompasses arresting intimacy as well, as evidenced by the films of his in the Criterion Collection. Among those are pictures that he was responsible for editing, early on in his work in film: some of his national cinema’s greatest hits, including Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard’s Pygmalion, Gabriel Pascal’s Major Barbara, and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 49th Parallel. In the forties and early fifties, having moved to directing, he made several luminous films, including adaptations of such classic and important contemporary works from the stage and page as Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice, Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit and Still Life (Brief Encounter, in the film version), and Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. All are graced by evocative, shadowy black-and-white cinematography and elegantly restrained compositions. Summertime, his gorgeous 1955 Technicolor trip to Venice with Katharine Hepburn, marked a turning point in his career: the sun-dappled location shoot was galvanizing for Lean, and the remainder of his films, from The Bridge on the River Kwai to A Passage to India, could be considered outdoor spectacles. Yet Lean’s deep interest in complex characters, his brilliant way with actors, and his classic sense of storytelling were never trumped by scale.