Summer and Smoke [Blu-ray]

GERALDINE PAGE, most unappreciated...
There are a lot of things you can say about this film, but foremost must be the performance of Geraldine Page, perhaps the finest female performance ever captured on film. Her use of her hands, a glance...every nuance imaginable has not been matched (a close second: Giulietta Massina). Alma is a lot more complicated than most realize, a repressed rage, hopeless love, culminating in a dependance on drugs (not brought out so much in the film); "those little white tablets...ever so merciful..." After an Oscar nomination in 1953 for "Hondo", Page was subjected to ugliness by the McCarthy nonsense, and "S&S" was only her second film. English director Peter Glenville, famous for attention to detail ("Becket"), worked with fellow Brit, Laurence Harvey (a southerner by association since he played Travis in "The Alamo"), and it was actually a fine group of talent. Tennessee Williams always thought this was his best play; he re-wrote it as "Eccenticities of a Nightingale", but the new idea,...

IN THE PARK . alone ... waiting..... at night.
It's THAT final scene that always grabs ya, poor Alma, little desolate sitting there, next to that grotesque stone angel, a bit like Blanche, waiting for that Gentleman Caller, getting by with a little help from her friends, and that ODD, bittersweet conclusion.....

Underrated performances, underrated movie, pre-David Lynch territory, almost Ray Bradbury country, weird, Wonderful Tennessee Williams! Geraldine Page assaults your senses as the repressed, tightly-encorseted spinster masking a volcano of passion - just under the veil! A product of affuent early 20th century domestic repression she pines for the affection of neighborhood hunk Harvey M.D., but to no avail. He has been "taken" by a much younger rival [another devastating scene with Page and Pamela Tiffin as the "bride to be"].

There's plenty a-foot, spot-on performances by Una Merkel as the ever-eccentric mother, and Rita Moreno as the passionate, doomed Rosa BUT its those last moments with Alma...

Haunting adaptation of Williams' most poetic work
This Panavision and color adaptation of Tennessee Williams' most poetic play is a showcase for both his words and Geraldine Page's Oscar-nominated performance. Spirituality vs. carnality is the theme of a spinster romantically attracted to her childhood neighbor, a wild libertine. Elmer Bernstein's score is magnificant - one of his finest and one of the finest in film history. Listen during Alma's soul-searing final monologue using images of ice and fire and listen to Bernstein's use of harp glissandos that reflect the words. This is Page's finest screen performance and along with the score and the writing are the main reasons for viewing. The prologue and main title are letterboxed - showing the fine use of wide screen. Nominations were also received for Una Merkel's supporting performance as the dotty mother, Bernstein's score and the period Art Direction. Well worth a visit.

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