SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1959)

Two acting powerhouses fight it out in this Tennessee Williams adaptation, and the audience comes out the winner. Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) has been in shock since her cousin was killed during a European vacation. Her aunt (Katharine Hepburn) wants her lobotomized so she cannot reveal what happened. The doctor charged with evaluating Holly is played by another stellar actor, Montgomery Clift. The two women perfectly reflect the conflict in the script, which writer Gore Vidal had expanded from Williams’ one-act play. Both leading ladies earned Oscar nominations, while Taylor won a few international awards for her work. Although two previous Williams plays, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, had been stripped of any gay references in their adaptations, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and producer Sam Spiegel managed to get this one past the censors, paving the way for future films like The Children’s Hour (1961) and Advise and Consent (1962).

d. Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 115m, DCP

Courtesy of Sony Pictures.