Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) on Netflix
Approved19591h 54mDramaMysteryThriller
New Orleans. Catherine Holly is held in a mental hospital after her cousin Sebastian Venable dies in Spain. His mother, Violet Venable, offers to fund the hospital for a lobotomy on Catherine.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.4/1019,349 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes68%
Trailer
Plot summary
After her cousin Sebastian Venable dies during a summer abroad in Spain, Catherine Holly is confined to a private mental hospital in New Orleans, her memory of the trip unclear. Sebastian's wealthy mother, Violet Venable, is determined to keep the circumstances of his death from being spoken about. She offers to finance a new wing for a state hospital if its surgeon, Dr. John Cukrowicz, will lobotomize Catherine. Dr. Cukrowicz agrees to evaluate Catherine first. He interviews her and finds her account of her past limited and her recollections of Europe uncertain, though she wants to remember. Catherine's mother and brother, meanwhile, stand to inherit money from Sebastian, and Violet will release it only if they consent to the operation.
Cast
- Maria Britnevaas Lucy
- Sheila Robbinsas Dr. Hockstader's Secretary
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- On the last day of shooting her scenes, after director Joseph L. Mankiewicz confirmed Katharine Hepburn was no longer needed, she walked up to him and spat in his face; sources differ over whether she also spat at producer Sam Spiegel.
- Elizabeth Taylor, then the biggest box office draw in Hollywood, used her leverage to get Montgomery Clift hired for Suddenly, Last Summer after his near-fatal 1957 car crash left him dependent on drugs and alcohol and no company would insure him.
- The Production Code Administration, working with the National Legion of Decency, gave the filmmakers special dispensation to depict Sebastian Venable, calling the film moral in theme even though it deals with sexual perversion.
- Montgomery Clift found the film's long scenes exhausting and had his longest one shot in multiple takes, a line or two at a time; his shaky performance reportedly led Joseph Mankiewicz to ask Sam Spiegel several times to drop him.
- Malcolm Arnold was originally retained to score the film but withdrew after composing only the main themes, apparently because he found aspects of the story so disturbing; Buxton Orr completed the score.
- Tennessee Williams, credited on the screenplay, denied having any part in writing it, and told The Village Voice in 1973 that the film went too far afield from his play, saying it "made [him] throw up."
