La primavera romana de la Sra. Stone

I love this movie and recently purchased the 2006 DVD version with accompanying 12-minute "analysis". The analysis features an interview with Jill St. John who admitted that not once during filming did Miss Leigh ever actually speak to her. Interesting. That certainly mirrors the relationship between Karen Stone, the aging and drifting actress, and Miss St. John's irritating bimbo-starlet character in the story. Yes - Beatty's accent is horrendous and distracting but otherwise, he captures the essence of a young Roman hustler. Lenya outdoes herself and is nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her performance as the procurer. But, Vivien Leigh IS this movie with her fading beauty/fame and related insecurities mirroring those of the title character. Miss Leigh's stunning early 60s couture by Balmain, the posh sets, and that baby-blue Lincoln convertible are wonderful props for a poignant and compelling tale of loss and the loneliness and desperation that can result therefrom.

By the way, I am conflicted and unsure about the finale of the movie. I presume that's what Mr. Williams intended.

Read together the biographies of Tennessee Williams and Vivien Leigh, and you'll know why the depressing aspects of this movie are so realistic!! Vivien was, at the time the movie was made, going through her painful divorce from Laurence Olivier. In the middle of making the film, she had dinner with her beloved Olivier and Joan Plowright, at which time he told her that he was marrying Joan. Vivien had electro-shock treatments right after wrapping this movie. That desolate, soul-searing sadness in her eyes isn't acting!

Tennessee Williams features gigolos, procurers and prostitutes in many of his plays and this was no exception, although the 'action' is disguised by the high-faluting manners of the Countessa (the madam, who lives off the earnings of her 'boys'). You wonder how much Tennessee may have fashioned the play on Miss Leigh's life, as 'Mrs. Stone' is an actress past her prime, whose husband has just absented himself from her life (and his, as well). Williams exquisitely portrays the way we use one another for our own advantage, and Beatty (with a crummy Italian accent) does a great job of 'playing' the self-involved, narcissistic, money hungry Lothario. Once he hooks her, he delights in sadistically attacking her for her 'weakness' in loving him. Ever been there? At that time in his life, Beatty was playing a similar but more innocent role with almost every woman in Hollywood. He has matured well.

The writing was excellent, the scenery in Rome magnificent, but you will be so depressed after seeing this excellent movie that I suggest you also check out 'Bulworth' as a double feature to follow with. Beatty on two sides of his career is worth comparing: drama and comedy, villain and hero. I believe you'll have to say that Warren Beatty is an actor as well as a movie star.

Even though Vivien Leigh did not care for Beatty's arrogance while making this movie, she was able to turn the horror of her personal life into something constructive (as did Tennessee Williams), for which we the public should always be grateful. To make art from the ashes of a marriage----destroyed by death or divorce----- is something each of us would do well to learn.

For those of you with indomitable spirits, another Tennessee Williams film to see for comparison purposes is "Summer and Smoke". The interplay between the romantic leads is more equal, but both portray the sadness from Tennessee's sister Rose's life. She was a beautiful Southern flower, intimidated by her overbearing mother and alcoholic father, who wound up having a lobotomy (as did another sad victim /child of our nation's leading family). Tennessee paid homage to her tragic life in many of his plays, and these are no exception. Intelligent, beautiful but completely impotent at withstanding the aggression of those around her, Mrs. Stone is a prime example of a 'Rose by another name'.

I'll say flat out right at the beginning, that if you don't appreciate the talents of Vivien Leigh -- you will not like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. This is her penultimate film, which was really made as a vehicle for her talents, without much of an ensemble cast and she's in nearly every scene. But the great actress is certainly up to the task of making this material work, although she is let down at times by contrivances of plot and other aspects of believability.

Taken from famous playwright Tennessee William's novella, the story concerns aging actress Karen Stone, who yearns to retire with her rich husband, who unfortunately expires while on their way to Rome for their extended getaway. Then the lonely widow starts dating a handsome young Italian guy who has an unusually close relationship with the sinister contessa who introduced them both.

Vivien Leigh as Karen Stone "drifts" through the movie, an ethereal presence that's nearly translucent, extremely delicate and cautiously mannered. The machinations of the plot allow her many opportunities to overstate or exaggerate, which is something Leigh never does. Many have said that this source material is kind of second rate Tennessee Williams, but even if true, Vivien Leigh's work here makes the very best of it in an engaging style.

And the movie has the added benefit of young future superstar Warren Beatty, making his second feature film. Needless to say, he looks fantastic, making it much more believable that Mrs. Stone would become so enamored with him. It's evident that Beatty clearly dove headfirst into an attempt to transform himself into an Italian gigolo. I find the Italian accent he attempted to be perhaps a little lacking at some points in the way of his hitting a few wrong pronunciations that sound artificial at very few and select times. Other than that minor detail, Beatty fills the role more than adequately, and his star power is in abundance.

And no small mention must go to fabulous Lotte Lenya (who scored an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress in this), as this unctuous Euro-trash "contessa" who deals in romantic relationships usually for women of a certain class, age and wealth. She's extremely creepy, and look for a frightening scene set inside a cavernous discotheque where the camera follows Lenya slithering through the crowd, making her way to the fragile Mrs Stone. Every scene with Lenya is a highlight in this movie, and also see how her intense love for her pet cat is expressed in the way Lenya artfully handles the willing feline.

The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, surely a "must-see" for devotees of Williams, Leigh, Beatty or Lenya, and anyone who enjoys colorful European settings, vivid characters and glossy romantic drama.

**** out of *****

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.

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.