The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Starring:Helen Mirren, Olivier Martinez, Anne Bancroft, Rodrigo Santoro, Brian Dennehy, Roger Allam, Victor Alfieri, Suzanne Bertish, Jane Bertish, Tara Lynne O'Neill, Salvatore Lazzaro, Sara James, Dona Granata, Aldo Signoretti, Frank Crudele, Genevieve Mackenzie, Jack Lynch, Morgan O'Sullivan, Rebecca Smith, Ãngel Alonso (II)
Director: Robert Allan Ackerman
Studio: Showtime Ent.
Product Type: DVD

Description

A beautiful cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams' first novel, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, tells the emotional story of Karen Stone (Mirren), an aging American actress who falls for a young Italian gigolo of captivating beauty (Martinez) after the untimely death of her husband, Tom (Dennehy). In typical Tennessee Williams fashion, Mrs. Stone finds romance, but ultimately loses control and steps into a dangerous world of chaos.

Customer Reviews:

Mirren Breathes New Life into this Torrid Williams Tale.......2007-04-29

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Though THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE is not the greatest of Tennessee Williams' works, nor is this film version perfect, it is well worth seeing just for the pleasure of watching Helen Mirren work her magic as an actress. In terms of the film proper, the pacing is far too fast and Olivier Martinez, though dashing in his way, is rather unappealing as a "gigolo." It is hard to see what Mirren's Karen Stone sees in this lad, but c'est la vie. In terms of Helen Mirren's performance, it is nothing less than superb. Her Karen Stone is both elegant and simple, vulnerable and powerful, brilliant and dim. She shines like a beautiful sunrise and her work surpasses all the work of the other actors in this piece. All I wished for was that the camera would linger on her for much longer and give her the chance to communicate, as she does exceptionally well, in silence.

PRIMAVERA 2000 ............2007-03-08

RODRIGO SANTORO encapsulates it all by urinating in public in front of Karen Stone, played with appropriate angst by HELEN MIRREN -[come a long way from "Caligula" and "Savage Messiah"]. The rest? Typical decaying Rome - but then again, being the eternal or infernal city - it always seems to discard the excrement and bloom forth anew.

Fun moments with the ravenous Anna Bankcroft - paracitically living off everything within reach - reminded me strongly of the 'mother son' con artists [Sante something??]

Even Brian Dennehy shines through the moments allowed, gowns and glam abound, but there's always that slight erotic stench left behind ....as someone enters or leaves a scene .......

Forget Paolo Karen - the unwashed waif is far more interesting - and can be moulded .....

[Would be fun to see a future version with Karen played by George Clooney ....... "When In Rome" ......

"Youth Is a Cruel Gift".......2007-02-17

Karen Stone (Helen Mirren) is an over-the-hill actress who has just bombed in a stage production of "Romeo and Juliet." She, along with her husband, who is not "physical" with her, travels to Rome for a much needed vacation. While there, the husband dies; and Mrs. Stone goes through a series of young Italian gigolos furnished to her by the cruel and penniless Contessa (Anne Bancroft) culminating with the humpy Paolo (Olivier Martinez.) All three actors get right into their roles, giving it their all. Bancroft is at times a bit over the top. Mirren, as always, gives a flawless performance as we watch her lighten her hair, then darken it, then add lots of makeup in a futile effort to hang onto Paolo. She certainly goes into this relationship with her eyes wide open and finally does get up the courage to put him to flight. She cuts off his money, opines that "youth is a cruel gift" and calls the Contessa a female pimp. The film has a strange cryptic open-ended ending that lends itself to several interpretations.

Tennessee Williams-- the movie is based on a story of his by the same title-- writes about the fragile, older woman who falls for the younger, super-masculine worthless male over and over ("Sweet Bird of Youth"); but does it very well. His stories and plays usually translate very well to the screen. "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" is no exception.

It should have been better.......2006-06-19

Perhaps the admiration I have for both Helen Mirren and Anne Bancroft led me to expect more; but Bancroft seems to be reduced to a cartoon character procuress. Mrs. Stone is more fully rounded, but the limitations of a faithful translating of William's story to the film are very dominant. (I doubt if he could ever have conceived of a middle-aged woman having a fling with a younger man and having it NOT end badly!) I wished that I could have seen a greater self-awareness in Mrs. Stone; occasionally it began to rise up in Helen Mirren's eyes, then faded away, leaving me repeatedly disappointed. The background music was extraordinarily annoying, and I could have used at least a little exposition as to the significance of the beggar.

"When the time comes I can't be desired for myself, I would rather not be desired at all.".......2006-05-08

It's always interesting to do a comparison of the old and the new. Watching the latest version of The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone starring Helen Mirren, one can see how the social mores of the time can have a profound effect on what we actually end up watching on the screen. I was well prepared to rubbish this particular version, but in many respects this newer and sexier version, achieves a depth of story and character that the older version could never hope to achieve.

In this adaptation, the sets, locations and costumes are lavish - although there are less exterior shots in Rome in this one, perhaps because the City no longer resembles the setting of the original story. Director Robert Ackerman and writer Martin Sherman have obviously traded scene for deeper character development, highlighting the sexual intimacy that takes place between Paolo and Karen Stone.

While the basic structure of the first movie has been retained, certain elements have been shifted around and expounded upon. Karen's best friend Meg is now Christopher (Roger Allam) an effete man who is presumably modeled on Williams himself. Karen's husband Tom (Brian Dennehy) has a larger part to play, and his apology to her that he hasn't been that good in the "physical" department is a nice addition, as it makes Karen's middle-aged sexual awakening all the more justified.

Perhaps the biggest asset is the casting of Olivier Martinez as Paolo (covered up tattoo aside). Although Warren Beauty was good, Martinez just seems more compelling and authentic and he fits the role of the hot young gigolo as smoothly as the tailored suits that his client buys for him. And Anne Bancroft's turn as the Contessa, reduced to the position of procurer for wealthy old American widows, is a much more overtly mercenary and nastier, than Lotte Lenya's.

Mirren's Karen isn't as neurotic and fearful as Vivian Leigh's portrayal, but she is just as fixated on getting older, if not more so, and she comes across as much more sensual, and also willing to explore that darker side of her nature. Because this version was made in 2003, we get a lot more sex, which is good, because it's important to the story, and to the development of the relationship with Karen and Paolo.

Karen basically gets quickie sex whether she wants it or not - on the lounge in her rooftop apartment, in the front seat of a car on the way to a picnic, and up against a wall of a nightclub whilst she is bedecked in jewels and fur. There's some obligatory nudity, particularly shots of Mirren's bust, you get to see Martinez' taught, tight body.

The sex is steamy, if not a bit choreographed, and Paolo always initiates it before he ever hits her up for money. Of course, Karen falls for him and deludes herself into thinking he cares for her. The last part of the film is pretty much by the book - she obviously knows it will end, but she allows her heart to feel otherwise.

Another interesting emphasis is the decline of the Italian aristocracy and the bitter anti-American feeling. The Contessa and Paulo are proud people, they come from nobility, yet they have lost everything in the war - you get the sense that Paulo hates being a gigolo and that the Contessa hates pimping him out. In a later scene, the Contessa even cites the bombing and invasion of Italy by the Americans as the source of her destitution.

Overall, while made for the small screen, this version of the Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone really manages to capture the heart and desperation of Williams' work. He really seemed to like spinning these tales of once-beautiful, aging women, desperate for love and addictively pursuing affection, literally at any cost. This film - buoyed by Mirren's sensual performance and Martinez' earthy and sexy charisma - is a fine contemporary addition to the series of films showing the power and emotion of William's literary legacy. Mike Leonard May 06.

Tennessee Williams Film Collection (A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Two-Disc Special Edition / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Deluxe Edition / Sweet Bird of Youth / The Night of the Iguana / Baby Doll / The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone)

Average customer rating:

Essential boxset for fans of American theater of the 1950s
A Boxed Set Named Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams' plays as movies
A Bit Of Heaven In This Southern Madness
Amazing Box Set Collects Some of the Finest Film Performances of Mid-20th Century American Cinema

Tennessee Williams Film Collection (A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Two-Disc Special Edition / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Deluxe Edition / Sweet Bird of Youth / The Night of the Iguana / Baby Doll / The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone)
Starring: Vivien Leigh , Marlon Brando , Kim Hunter , Karl Malden , and Rudy Bond
Director: Elia Kazan , and Richard Brooks
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000EBD9UI
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Amazon.com

A much-needed DVD tribute to one of the essential American playwrights, The Tennessee Williams Collection gathers six Williams titles and one vintage documentary. Taken together, it's a potent introduction to the specific terrain (geographical and emotional) of this brilliant writer. The set is anchored by Warner's deluxe two-disc treatment of A Streetcar Named Desire, which has copious extras (among them a fine 90-minute documentary about director Elia Kazan). The multi-Oscar-winning Streetcar is one of the better stage adaptations in film history, and it captures the electrifying Marlon Brando, re-creating his stage role, in the part that changed American acting: the brutish New Orleans sensualist Stanley Kowalski. Vivien Leigh won an Oscar opposite him, as the faded (except in her own mind) Southern belle Blanche DuBois, whose arrival in the Kowalski home leads to disaster.

Kazan also directed Baby Doll, which Williams scripted from a couple of one-act plays. This outrageous sex comedy casts the excellent Carroll Baker as the 19-year-old wife of middle-aged Karl Malden, who anxiously awaits the day he can finally consummate his maddening marriage; immigrant cotton magnate Eli Wallach shows up at Malden's crumbling plantation house just in time to take the bloom off the rose, as it were. Famous for being condemned in 1956, Baby Doll remains a very modern (and gloriously dirty) movie. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, directed by Richard Brooks, faithfully brings three of Williams's indelible characters to the screen, even if the script discreetly changes the original stage text: the hot Maggie the Cat (Elizabeth Taylor), her reluctant husband Brick (Paul Newman), and Brick's rich Big Daddy (Burl Ives). All three performers act the lights out.

Sweet Bird of Youth reunites Paul Newman with director Brooks, and also showcases Geraldine Page's performance as an aging film star tagging along with young stud Newman to his Southern home town. Some of Williams' more depraved touches are toned down, but the milieu is unmistakable and the movie is intense. The Night of the Iguana gives Richard Burton perhaps his finest hour onscreen: as Williams' dissolute defrocked priest, playing tour guide in Puerto Vallarta to tour groups of nattering biddies. The movie has director John Huston's sympathy for life's losers, as well as a trio of women built to torment Burton's reverend: Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, and Sue Lyon. The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, based on Williams's novel, is not a great movie, but gives Vivien Leigh a good workout as a wounded actress dallying with Italian gigolo Warren Beatty.

Tennessee Williams' South is a 1973 documentary featuring some marvelous observations from Williams, as he holds court for filmmaker Harry Rasky. It also has long scenes from his plays, enacted by good folks such as Maureen Stapleton, Colleen Dewhurst, and Burl Ives. Especially valuable is a Streetcar sequence with Jessica Tandy re-creating her original role as Blanche. Williams himself reads the narration from The Glass Menagerie, a privileged moment. This is not an exhaustive Williams set (Joseph Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer and Sidney Lumet's The Fugitive Kind are among the best Williams films), but it maps out the steamy, tortured landscape awfully well. --Robert Horton

Description

Streetcar Named Desire 2 Disc SE Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Deluxe Edition Sweet Bird of Youth Night of the Iguana Baby Doll Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Customer Reviews:

Essential boxset for fans of American theater of the 1950s.......2007-02-23

This is a terrific boxset, collecting six of the films based on Tennessee Williams's plays (plus another disc with the documentary "Tennessee Williams' South"). All the films are transferred with great care, and look quite wonderful. And the films themselves are fascinating, because (with the exception of BABY DOLL), they're invariably sanitized, as the major studios (Warner Brothers, MGM) struggled to constrain the unfettered imagination of one of America's most floridly uninihibited playwrights. Yet Williams' reputation as one of the premiere writers for actors allows some classic performances, starting with Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, one of the most potent displays of Method acting which helped to revolutionize American film and theater. Kazan's hyperbolic direction of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is tempered in BABY DOLL, possibly the most charming film in the set (with terrific performances from Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, and, most hilariously, Mildred Dunnock). It seems incredible that, at the time (1956), BABY DOLL was the most controversial film of its year, with condemnation and cries of "filth" being bandied about. But BABY DOLL is a comic interlude in Williams' career. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is the most heavily censored, so that all the talk of mendacity makes the film seem mendacious, because no one is talking about what the film is really about. But all the actors go to town with their Southern accents, especially Elizabeth Taylor and Judith Anderson.

But if CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF seems antiseptic, that's nothing compared to SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, which is alternately lurid and dainty. To watch Geraldine Page rip through in an absolutely corrosive and riveting performance is to see one of America's greatest actresses at her peak. THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA is uneven, but, again, some of the performances (in particular, Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and, especially, Deborah Kerr and Cyril Delevanti) are superb. The long sequence with Burton and Kerr talking about demons and love while Burton is tied in the hammock is one of the most poetic sequences in all of Williams, handled with great insight and power.

THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE has worn well with the years, as Vivien Leigh gives an elegant performance as the aging woman desperate for love nad even more desperate for her dignity.

Of course, these are all works which could be done now with a greater fidelity to Williams' original texts, but it would be hard to beat the incredible performances, done (in many cases) in the original acting styles of the period (in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, many of the original Broadway casts were also cast in the films). This is a chance to see some legendary actors in the classic parts which they made famous.

A Boxed Set Named Tennessee Williams.......2007-01-08

He may be considered the great American playwright of the 20th Century, but until I got the boxed set of DVDs featuring adaptations of his works, I had never really been exposed to Tennessee Williams. This set of six movies gives a good sampling of Williams and shows why he got his reputation for both daring and excellence.

In chronological order by film date, the first film in the set (and probably the best) is A Streetcar Named Desire. This story focuses on the interrelationship of three characters: Blanche DuBois (played by Vivien Leigh), her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). Blanche moves in with the couple, fleeing from scandal in her hometown and with only a weak grip on sanity. The brutish Stanley is her natural antagonist, with Stella stuck in the middle. Eventually, however, Blanche and Stanley will have to confront each other.

Though Blanche may be the main character, it is Stanley who steals the show due to Brando's wonderful performance. After seeing this movie, I can understand how significant of an impact that Brando had in the world of movie acting; prior to Streetcar, acting performances like Brando's were quite rare. This is a great film, and the only Williams movie I was really familiar with prior to watching, both due to its immortal scenes ("Stella!") and the brilliant Simpsons musical adaptation (in "A Streetcar Named Marge").

Next is Baby Doll, with Karl Malden as an impoverished cotton-miller and Carroll Baker as his very young wife, the Baby Doll of the title. She has been viewing her much older spouse with increasing contempt and has held him to a promise that they would not consummate their marriage until she turned 20, an event soon to happen. Eli Wallach enters the film as both a business and romantic rival to Malden. For the time this movie was made (1956), this film was sexually daring, and though not as explicit as modern movies, it still holds up well.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof features Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) and Brick (Paul Newman) as a married couple on the edge. A deep secret has kept them estranged and there is the additional complication of the impending death of Brick's very wealthy and dominating father. Brick may be Big Daddy's favorite, but their problems threatens to cut Brick out of an inheritance he doesn't want; Maggie, however, has other ideas.

Newman is back in a different role in Sweet Bird of Youth as a young hustler who returns to his hometown as the lover/employee of an aging actress. He is hopeful that she will help him make it big in Hollywood, but he is also interested in winning back his old girlfriend, a goal her corrupt political boss father will do anything to stop.

Night of the Iguana has Richard Burton as a drunken reverend turned third-rate tour guide winding up at a hotel run by the widow (Ava Gardner) of an old friend. His job is threatened when a young tourist (played by Sue Lyons of Lolita fame) keeps trying to seduce him. As things fall apart for him, it's up to the widow and an artist (Deborah Kerr) to keep him from destroying himself.

Finally, there is The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, featuring Vivien Leigh as a recently widowed actress who takes a young lover (played by an early Warren Beatty). This is probably the weakest in the set, and the only one I felt rather bored while watching.

Actually, there is a problem that is consistent with many of these movies in that they often just seem like filmed plays. That is, everything seems very staged and there is little real action; the focus is on dialogue, which often takes the somewhat formal form you see in the theater. That is not to say that these are bad movies; actually, they are almost all good: Streetcar is a five star film, Baby Doll, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth merit four, Night three and Roman Spring two. There are also a good number of extras in the set, including commentaries on Streetcar and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a bunch of mini-documentaries and a bonus disc called Tennessee Williams' South. This bonus disc is an early-1970s documentary featuring interviews with Williams and various actors doing scenes from his plays; it is mildly interesting.

One does not watch Williams expecting happy endings and everything nicely resolved (although some of the films do end more upbeat than others, in part, I believe because of a Hollywood demand for such conclusions, despite how the plays may have been written). Instead, you get a level and type of drama that was rarely shown prior to the Williams. Overall, this set rates a high four stars; it may not be perfect, but you do get some good films that pushed the limits of what was allowed at the time.

Tennessee Williams' plays as movies.......2007-01-06

Each of the plays of Tennessee Williams that has been rended as a movie is worth watching. The rawness of emotions, the actors and the direction all make these movies immensely watchable.

A Bit Of Heaven In This Southern Madness.......2006-10-09

Being a sucker for a good box set, I have accumulated quite a few. You end up with some great DVDs, but also some titles that you might not have purchased on their own. This Tennessee Williams collection is one that I wholeheartedly recommend--each selection might not be a true classic, but each represents a significant part of Williams' lexicon and lore. Put together, they symbolize and honor a master craftsman and a time when words, dialogue and screenplays were more important than quick edits and loud soundtracks.

Of course, the undisputed champion of this set is the two disc "A Streetcar Named Desire." An absolutely perfect rendering of a brilliant play, "Streetcar" boasts some of the most powerful performances you're likely to see. With Oscars going to Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter--this is one of the most honored films in history. And Marlon Brando's Stanley Kowalski has become a legend.

I'm not going to individually review every film, each offers its own merits. What is amazing about these films is how adult they were for their day and how well they stand up today. Southern melodrama never looked or sounded so good.

"Cat on A Hot Tin Roof" is a flawed, truncated version of Williams' play--but still an entertaining vehicle for Newman and Taylor. "Sweet Bird Of Youth" is one of my absolute favorites proving once and for all that Geraldine Page was an acting icon! Those that dismiss "Baby Doll" as a more minor work miss some of its subtlety. It's a very clever romp. "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" and "The Night of the Iguana" are both intriguing and eminently watchable, but not without their problems.

These films represent very adult topics, some great writing--sometimes leaning toward lurid melodrama--and awesome performances. It's easy to see why so many top caliber actors and directors are attached to these pieces--and why so many were honored for their works.

If you love film (or plays for that matter) and you haven't seen some of these titles, do yourself a favor--BUY THIS SET and enjoy. Tennessee Williams was a singular talent and a unique voice. KGHarris, 10/06.

Amazing Box Set Collects Some of the Finest Film Performances of Mid-20th Century American Cinema.......2006-05-24

If playwright Tennessee Williams's Southern gothic writing style makes his works feel more ornately melodramatic than those of O'Neill or his closest contemporary Arthur Miller, they do provide resonant showcases for the actors inhabiting his characters. This is clearly evidenced in this six-film, eight-disc collection that epitomizes some of the most powerful acting to come out of Hollywood in the 1950's and early 1960's, all directed by true filmmaking masters. Probably because they are the least censored by the studio system at least in the form presented now, the best of the set are Elia Kazan's "A Streetcar Named Desire" and John Huston's "The Night of the Iguana". The others are Kazan's "Baby Doll", Richard Brooks' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", Jose Quintero's "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" and Brooks' "Sweet Bird of Youth".

A feral, smoldering Marlon Brando justifiably made his reputation as brutish Stanley Kowalski in 1951's "A Streetcar Named Desire", and his animalistic charisma still leaps off the screen. Intriguingly, one of the extras included in the two-disc set for the movie is footage from a 1947 screen test of Brando when he was 23, and his stardom seems assured even then. The plot of the movie amounts to the inevitable clash between Kowalski and his visiting sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois, a fading Southern belle on the verge of a mental breakdown. Having proven her ability to be a convincing Southerner in "Gone With the Wind", Vivien Leigh expertly handles all the florid dialogue with her particular blend of defiance and vulnerability.

Strong supporting work comes from Kim Hunter as Blanche's naive sister Stella and Karl Malden as Blanche's seemingly respectful suitor Mitch. Now over ninety, Malden is on hand to provide his own eloquent recollections of the production on an alternate track, and film historians Rudy Behlmer and Jeff Young provide more objective commentary on another track. Film critic Richard Schickel's 1995 feature-length look at Kazan is the centerpiece of the second disk, and there is also a more interesting five-part documentary on the film and original Broadway show, the best portion focusing on censorship and the several minutes that have been reinserted in the DVD version of the film.

1964's "The Night of the Iguana" deals with a similarly dysfunctional group of people, but this time the setting is a dilapidated Mexican beach resort where Reverend Shannon, newly defrocked, has taken a group of spinsters from a women's college. Huston made his reputation on his strong literary adaptations, and his affinity shows in the fulsome characterizations, striking visuals and dark humor. Richard Burton is in peak form as Shannon, and there is also sterling work from Deborah Kerr as the spinsterish Hannah and especially Ava Gardner as the slatternly resort owner, Maxine Faulk. The DVD contains a recent making-of featurette and a vintage video, both fascinating.

"Baby Doll" is an entertaining hoot that doesn't seem as sensationalistic as I'm sure it was when the film was first released in 1956. It's simply a Southern-fried farce about the potential deflowering of a nineteen-year old child bride with a nice, pouty turn by Carroll Baker in the title role and a surprisingly funny one by Karl Malden as her randy husband, cotton mill owner Archie. 1958's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is far more vaunted but ultimately hamstrung by the overly careful portrayal of Brick as an asexual protagonist, this in spite of stellar performances from Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives.

Newman is even better as gigolo Chance Wayne in 1963's "Sweet Bird of Youth", and he is matched all the way by Geraldine Page's all-cylinders-on performance as faded movie queen Alexandra Del Lago (a role that would have ironically been ideal for Ava Gardner). The weakest film of the set is 1961's "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone" about an aging American actress living in Rome who falls recklessly in love with an indifferent gigolo. A decade after "Streetcar", the glamorous-looking Leigh excels in the title role, while a young Warren Beatty fits the physical requirements as the gigolo Paolo even though his faux-Italian accent is a little too emphatic. All four of these movies come with making-of featurettes and original trailers, and "Cat" also includes commentary from Williams' biographer Donald Spoto.

The focal point of the eighth disc is a 1973 documentary, "Tennessee Williams' South", which highlights insightful interviews with Williams in the New Orleans area. The film also includes classic scenes from his plays reenacted specifically for the documentary. You can have the privilege of seeing Broadway's original Blanche DuBois, Jessica Tandy, and compare her work to Leigh's, as well as an impressive turn by Maureen Stapleton as Amanda Wingfield in "The Glass Menagerie". This is an incredible film collection for anyone who wants to see some of the greatest performances of mid-20th century American cinema.

Average customer rating:

A Bit of a Mess But Interesting
Imperfect, yet deeply poignant
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
"But we are all drifting Mrs. Stone"
Great Talents Muddled

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Starring: Vivien Leigh , Warren Beatty , Lotte Lenya , Coral Browne , and Jill St. John
Director: José Quintero
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000EBD9TO
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Amazon.com

Vivien Leigh, so stirringly memorable as Blanche in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, stars in this 1961 adaptation of Williams's only novella, giving a nuanced, slightly neurotic performance that is haunting and all the more tragic by its being one of the actress's last performances before her sad death at age 53. Leigh plays Karen Stone, a 50-ish theater actress whose comeback vehicle never gets off the ground; en route to Rome for a brief escape, she's devastated by the sudden death of her beloved husband. She decides to stay in Rome, and there, her loneliness takes root against the spectacular backdrop of the city. Lotte Lenya plays a viperous contessa who pimps young men to older rich ladies, and introduces the handsome Paolo (played with dissolute perfection--though his Italian accent is shaky--by Warren Beatty) to Mrs. Stone. Leigh's performance is unnervingly raw, though one wonders why a woman with a long, happy marriage and at least one very real friend (played by Coral Browne) should be doomed to such relentless loneliness--surely she and her hubby had some pals back in New York? But with Williams, you simply must go along for the ride, and the journey through the emotional dark spaces of Mrs. Stone's life is gripping. The location shots of the glorious, decaying beauty of Rome are fabulous, as are the costumes. Extras include a featurette, Mrs. Stone: Looking for Love in All the Dark Corners. --A.T. Hurley

Description

An ageing starlet is off to vacation in Rome with her husband when he suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome where she leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Soon, a contessa comes calling and introduces Mrs. Stone and a young man named Paola. A wary Mrs. Stone ultimately succumbs to Paolo's charms.

DVD Features:
Documentaries
Featurette:? New Featurette Mrs. Stone: Looking for Love in All the Dark Corners

Customer Reviews:

A Bit of a Mess But Interesting.......2007-05-14

This movie doesn't wear the years very well, but if you have the patience to get through the plodding pace, wooden acting and totally bizarre script, there is still something to think about. I'd definitely recommend listening to the interviews that come with the DVD, as they help you make more sense of the movie. Probably one of the most interesting aspects of the film for me was how it showed Warren Beatty rather true to life.

Imperfect, yet deeply poignant.......2006-12-04

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a magnificent failure of a film: it addresses the themes of fear, self-loathing and the decay of age more sensitively than any other Hollywood film which springs to mind, but ultimately feels a bit cramped and over-done at times. Based on a Tennesee Williams novel, it tells the story of Karen Stone, an aging actress known for her light, comedic performances, who, after a failed turn in Shakespeare's As You Like It begins to fret that her career is over. She makes the decision to set off for Rome with her husband, who dies on the plane taking them there. She meets up with a handsome young money-hungry gigolo, played by an out-of-his-league Warren Beattie, whose terrible faux-Italian accent threatens to turn this film into camp. It contains one of Vivien Leigh's darkest and most autobiographical turns as the miserable Mrs. Stone, who shacks up with Beattie to try to bring some meaning to her life. She is as beautiful and sensitive here as she ever was. Two excellent performances by Lotte Lenya and Coral Browne help to bolster the film's quality. Lotte Lenya's lends a superb performance as the witch-like Contessa whose stable of handsome boys entertain the bored, wealthy American expatriates, both male and female. The always-engaging Coral Browne is brilliant as Karen's close friend, Meg, who attempts to help her and pull her out of the downward spiral of decay in which she is so clearly headed. A bonus featurette on the DVD discusses the troubled making of the film, it is particularly poignant in its discussions of the insecurities that Williams, Leigh and Beattie faced at the time of the film's creation.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.......2006-07-25

I searched everywhere for this movie, before I contacted Amazon.com and found it, because to my mind, it exactly captures Tennessee Williams' story. Vivienne Leigh is fabulous as Mrs. Stone. She has exactly the right degree of world weariness and vulnerability, and of course even towards the the end of her career when this picture was made, she embodies my idea of glamour.

Warren Beatty is the ideal gigolo. His Italian accent may not be perfect, but I don't believe that anyone could have done it better. He looks just right, and of course he turned out in later life to be a great womaniser, so this role is almost type casting.

All in all it is a wonderful addition to my movie collection.
David Farquharson.

"But we are all drifting Mrs. Stone".......2006-05-06

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is a film about need and seduction and the fear of being all-alone in the world. Legendary New York stage actress Karen Stone (the legendary Vivian Leigh) is unhappy with her latest performance, and is even more distraught when the play turns out to be a flop. She decides to retire from acting, telling everyone she needs a holiday to take care of her ailing husband.

However, when he dies on board a jetliner on the way to Rome, she decides to stay in the City and book herself into a lavish rooftop apartment. She wonders the streets, drifting in a haze of expensive loneliness, wondering what to do with her life now that acting is over for her. She soon falls in with the Contessa (Lotte Lenya), a female pimp, and a sharp procuress of handsome young men for forlorn wealthy old widows.

The Contessa hooks her up with the young Paolo di Leo (Warren Beatty). The sexy Paolo thinks nothing of acquiring money out of rich, older women, and with the Contessa's encouragement, he wines and dines Karen. Karen, however, isn't your typical widow. At around fifty, she's is still very beautiful, although she worries about getting older, she's obviously enamored of Paolo and she's desperate for affection, but she's determined that Paolo's need for money will not triumph her need for love.

They eventually become lovers. Karen showers gifts upon Paolo and they take a trip to Tangier. The Contessa becomes furious that Paolo isn't "cutting her fifty-fifty on the deal." Karen also doesn't heed the warnings of her friend, journalist Meg (Coral Browne) that she has "a disease" that can't be fulfilled. When Paolo begins to make the movies on younger starlet Barbara Bingham (Jill St. John), Karen begins to see Paolo for what he really is.

Based in Tennessee Williams novella, Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is full of his trademark themes of desperation and isolation of fearful people aching to connect. There's no doubt that Paolo is an attractive man, but he's also selfish, spoilt and petulant and he thinks nothing of two-timing Karen. Karen is an intelligent and intuitive woman, and she's well aware of Paolo's agenda, but it's as though she's observing life through a looking glass, and is ultimately seduced by the gigolo lifestyle.

Director Jos? Quintero bathes the movie soft hews of gold and orange and he makes the most of Rome's stunning surrounds. Vivien Leigh remains a rather downcast presence - she's plays Karen with a fascinating mixture of neurosis and foreboding, she knows the relationship with Paolo will probably lead nowhere but she just can't help herself.

When their romance starts to sour, she and her young and deceitful companion trade sharp words but there no extravagant theatrical exchanges. Likewise Beatty plays down the truculent Paolo - much has been made of his Italian accent, but I found it perfectly suitable, and he's totally convincing as a manipulative pretty-boy Italian gigolo.

The Romance of Mrs. Stone was probably pretty sensational when it was released in 1961; and it's moral ambiguities - paying for sex and high-class prostitution, quite shocking to some. The film as aged well, although it dances around the more intimate aspects of the relationship - there's only one short love scene, which fades to black - the film certainly does a good job of highlighting the trials and tribulations of poor lonely women with bags of money who find themselves at a loss, living in exotic places and desiring to connect with someone. Mike Leonard May 06.

Great Talents Muddled.......2006-05-01

This film is worth seeing because of the talents involved. Vivien Leigh continues her fictional autobiography on film, Scarlett in desperation became Blanche but found a rich husband who dies and she ends as the despondent Mrs. Stone, which somewhat mirrored Leigh's own troubled life, at least in trajectory. Leigh's mental problems and nymphomania bleed through brief moments in the performance and make it uncomfortable if real. Warren Beatty is physically blessed for the role of gigilo supreme (his own personal qualities bleed through as well) but his inability to play an Italian is so obvious the part should have been rewritten into Paul the American ex-pat. Lotte Lenya in her first screen role since Pabst's "Threepenny" in the early 30s is perfection as the Countess pimp. Her relationship with her pet is the most powerful in the film. She's worth having it for alone. Williams script is flawed by the pervasive Death Wish theme, there is no where to go with the story, it becomes a very intimate flat scandalous tabloid story (very much kin to "The Misfits"). Quintero, one of the great theater talents (personally responsible for the revival of Eugene O'Neill from oblivion), does not know how to shape a film and in particular the end, which should have power, hardly registers. When such great talents work together, it is worth seeing even if only to see where even they went wrong. If the others had worked with the focus and force of Lenya, this film would have been something much greater than it is.

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Williams' South

Tennessee Williams' South

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Biography - Tennessee Williams: Wounded Genius (A&E DVD Archives)
Great Writers: Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams Film Collection (A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Two-Disc Special Edition / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Deluxe Edition / Sweet Bird of Youth / The Night of the Iguana / Baby Doll / The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone)
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive)
A Streetcar Named Desire (Two-Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: B000FLCTU8

Product Description

The brutes and the belles. The gadflies and the good ol' boys. The taboos and the profound truths. They're all part of a tennessee state of mind -- a realm of places, personalities and ideas. Williams is front and center for this exploration, reading from his works, placing them in the context of his life, and serving as guide in visits to his career-shaping refuge in New Orleans and his later-day writing quarters in Key West. Also, dramatizations by distinguished actors -- including Jessica Tandy, Broadway's original Blanche DuBois, in a recreation of her A Streetcar Named Desire triumph -- give flesh-and-bone immediacy to some of the writer's famed works. In his own words. In his own places. The resilient character and memorable characters of one of our greatest writers reside in Tennessee Williams' South.

Customer Reviews:

Williams' South.......2006-06-24

Tennessee Williams is interviewed in Key West and New Orleans, and talks about his childhood, family, religion, race relations in the south, his eccentricies and demons and his love for Chekhov. His observations are often illuminating and provide good analysis for some of his writings. He also reads some of his poetry and prose (the poem from "Night of the Iguana" and "Life Story" and a section from "The Glass Menagerie"). This odd film also contains dramatic pieces at intervals with Williams commenting on the characters and their motivations. The dramatic clips are about 5 minutes each and include Burl Ives in a scene from "The Last of my Solid Gold Watches," Jessica Tandy in "A Streetcar Named Desire," William Hutt in "Small Craft Warnings," Colleen Dewhurst and John Colicos in "Night of the Iguana," and Maureen Stapleton, Michael York, James Naughton and Carol Williard in "The Glass Menagerie."

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone - PAL DVD (Official Russian release)

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The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone - PAL DVD (Official Russian release)

Manufacturer: Film Prestige
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

This is very rare PAL DVD (EUROPEAN TV VIDEO STANDARD) without region coding, officially released in Russia by studio "FILM PRESTIGE". Available Audio Tracks: original ENGLISH and RUSSIAN (voice-over). Available subtitles: RUSSIAN (removable). CUSTOMERS FROM NORTH AMERICA and JAPAN: Please, make sure your DVD player supports PAL DVDS (Europe, Australia, and Asia) before bidding; otherwise you can watch PAL DVDS on computer with DVD-ROM.

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A Bit of a Mess But Interesting
Imperfect, yet deeply poignant
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
"But we are all drifting Mrs. Stone"
Great Talents Muddled

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Starring: Vivien Leigh , Warren Beatty , Lotte Lenya , Coral Browne , and Jill St. John
Director: José Quintero
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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