Der römische Frühling der Mrs. Stone

When her wealthy, older husband dies, an aging actress (Vivien Leigh) decides to retire and move to Rome. For some strange reason, she finds herself at a loss. She seems to have no interests - no hobbies. She becomes "fixated" on having sex with young men.

She is introduced to a "candidate" (Warren Beatty) by a procurer, Lotte Lenya. But Mrs. Stone (Vivien Leigh) is somewhat reluctant to begin a "liasion".

Eventually, she succumbes to his obvious charms. But their relationship is skin-deep - she provides the money, he provides the sex. Meanwhile, a filthy street urchin (Jeremy Spenser) has been following her. He is hoping to capture her attentions. "What do you want?", she cries out.

Eventually, Mrs. Stone loses her "boy-toy" - he becomes attracted to a much younger woman. And Mrs. Stone falls into the arms of the filthy street urchin. The film, which has many fine and memorable moments, is dominated - and weakened - by the parched performamce of Vivien Leigh, who seems to be struggling for air.

When she falls into the arms of Jeremy Spenser, you just know that the end is not far off. The film is basically a hard-hitting testimony to the inescapable fact that love for sale is not an beneficial enterprise for anyone - the buyer or the seller

Lotte Lenya's formidable, terrifying performance captures the forbidding soul of this movie.

Introduced to a handsome young man during a stay in Italy, an insecure widowed US actress fights back her knowledge that the gentleman is just a gigolo in this Tennessee Williams adaptation starring Vivien Leigh in her penultimate big screen performance. Suffering from real life marital problems at the time, Leigh provides a performance with an air of vulnerability that rings true, but even better is Lotte Lenya of 'From Russia with Love' fame, cast here as the conniving 'countess' who introduces Leigh to her young suitor. Rambling on about the virtues of love and companionship, Lenya seems like a benevolent force at first, but as the film progresses and we see just how hell-bent she is on gaining financially from her matchmaking, she eventually seems almost as sinister as her better known Bond villainess. Promising as all this might sound though, the film is let down by never really igniting romantic sparks between Leigh and Warren Beatty as the young gigolo. Leigh never seems less than delusional to believe that he really loves her and Beatty only ever seems opportunistic. Beatty's awkward performance does not help matters though. He certainly looks the part, but with a faltering Italian accent, he never feels real whenever he opens his mouth. The main sell point of the film though is surely the dark and deliciously ambiguous ending. One exits the film really feeling like Leigh has suffered a personal blow and the uncertainty of her eventual fate is pitch perfect as she herself is unsure what the future holds for her by the end of the movie.

The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone is based on a novella by Tennessee Williams and I'm sure it was Tennessee who saw to it that Vivien Leigh was cast in the title role. After all Vivien had won an Oscar for playing that other Tennessee Williams sex starved female, Blanche Dubois.

But Karen Stone is a woman very much like Vivien Leigh was in real life. Karen is an actress who's refused to grow old gracefully, when we meet her she's just been trashed by the London critics for a very bad portrayal of Rosamund in As You Like It. She's 50 trying to play a young girl in her teens. Better she should have played Queen Gertrude in a revival of Hamlet.

Anyway she and her husband decide to take a long holiday in Rome, but as the plane is landing her husband has a heart attack and dies. He's left her well fixed and after a suitable period of mourning Mrs. Stone is ready for a little action in her life.

This is Tennessee Williams so we're talking sex here. Vivien maybe too old to play Rosalind, but she's not too old to enjoy what Rosalind enjoys. And Lotte Lenya who makes a living procuring young men for her clients is willing to supply.

Warren Beatty is what Vivien thinks she wants. Warren is the only real weakness in The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. He does pout an awful lot in the role and his accent is phony.

But Vivien who was going through mid life crisis for decades before she died in 1967 was perfect casting. I'm not sure how much of it is acting and how much she's just playing herself. The woman had a lot of emotional and physical problems and as her husband Laurence Olivier frankly admitted, she was a nymphomaniac in real life.

Lotte Lenya got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the Countess. However this was the year of West Side Story and Rita Moreno beat her in that category.

This was one of the frankest discussions about sex ever put on film up to that time. In fact though no gay sex is discussed, right at the beginning you see a couple of men meeting for a tryst and you can spot a few obviously gay couples strolling throughout Rome. The Code was definitely coming down.

One of the big pluses The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone has is that it was shot completely in The Eternal City. The movie industry loved Rome at that time with Roman Holiday, Three Coins In The Fountain, The Seven Hills Of Rome and now The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone all showing Rome to its best advantage. The other three films were a lot more upbeat than this one was.

Stage director Jose Quintero did a great job with his cast in his one and only big screen production. The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone was done with Helen Mirren in Vivien Leigh's part several years ago. You might want to see both to compare.

"In a few years, a cut throat would be a blessing" that's what Karen Stone (Vivien Leigh) tells Paolo (Warren Beatty)letting us know that she sees her life in an inexorable descend into the unspeakable. Old age is the ultimate punishment for the vain and the selfish. Tennessee Williams dissects that theory with an expert hand. The depression that Vivien Leigh (magnificent, once you get over the wig) carries with her at all times is so pungent and vivid that when you see her smile you may emit a sigh of relief. She's looking for her angel of death and Warren Beatty really looks the part. So Italian in his childishness if not his accent that you understand why Mrs. Stone will let herself fall into his obvious trap, wouldn't you? The pessimism and the sense of tragedy - the most personal and embarrassing kind - leads us by the hand through this gorgeous, gelid journey through a life about to fade in a place, rightly know as the eternal city. Vivien Leigh is sublime looking into her terrifying future. Warren Beatty seems to fit perfectly the reason to go against everything you believe in. Lotte Lenya is great fun to watch and a wonderful villain if I ever saw one. Coral Browne looks enormous next to Vivien Leigh and as a close friend, she reminded me of Mame's closest friend, Vera Charles, the one who would tell you all the ugly truths. I must confess, I enjoyed it but I couldn't shake off the melancholia for days and days.

Tennessee Williams' gift for exposing the heart and soul - the core - of human experience was so fine-tuned it transcended clumsy handling and Hollywood censorship. "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" captures the essence of Williams' profound understanding. Even the film's missteps - the fake sets, the beige hair, Warren Beatty's Italian accent – fail to detract. The surface artificiality contrasts with the underlying truths, making them that much more pronounced. In fact, the curious production values add another level of interest to the proceedings. There are lots of fine things about this film, which far surpasses the later television remake. Vivien Leigh's tortured persona brought added dimension to every character she played. Here she really "gets" what Mrs. Stone, and Williams, were about. Lotte Lenya's knowing performance remains timeless. Richard Addinsell's hypnotic score adds to the strange, foreign atmosphere. This is a rewarding, intelligent, entertaining film for thoughtful viewers. Obviously, it's not for every taste.