Based loosely on Arthur Laurents's play The Time Of The Cuckoo, SUMMERTIME is a romance set in Venice. Hepburn is an Ohio old maid who works as a secretary and has saved her money for a trip to Venice. She's traveling alone, and, on her first night there, she wanders around the city and
sees lovers walking hand in hand. She meets Audiero, a charming child who hustles tourists, and he becomes her guide to the wonders of the city.
The next day, they go sightseeing and meet Brazzi who owns an antique shop. They fall in love, and there's a whirlwind montage as they walk, hand in hand, through the twisting streets of the main island. While waiting for Brazzi in the Piazza San Marco, she's approached by Spenser, a young man who
tells her that Brazzi will be late. She soon learns that he is Brazzi's son and that her lover has a wife and family he's never mentioned. Although hurt by this revelation, Hepburn realizes that this is the most romantic interlude of her spinsterish existence; she's not about to end it now.
Touching, warm, often funny and lushly photographed. SUMMERTIME comes as close to capturing the essence of Venice as you will ever see. Lean had earlier directed BRIEF ENCOUNTER, so the story was familiar to him, although the terrain was vastly altered. There are places where the picture could
have used some pruning, especially in the travelogue portions, but Hepburn and Brazzi emerge as the best middle-aged couple (short of Hepburn and Tracy) of the 1950s. leave a comment
