ada the leading man is my tpye

Skunkyrate Gripping story with well-crafted characters

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

dougdoepke No need to recap the plot, which is largely character study, anyway.The two hours bears all the earmarks of a prestige Paramount production. There's kingpin producer Wallis, stage prima donna Page, fast-rising Harvey, celebrated writer Williams, plus elaborate period production values. So why was I yearning for the engaging crudities of Roger Corman and Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957). Well, for one thing, hotshot Page manages one of the most mannered turns I've seen in 60-years of movie viewing. It's darn near eye-rolling in its staginess. And since she's in most every scene, there's little relief. I know, she's a great actress, but then I'm going on results not reputation. On the other end is Harvey, fresh off his Room at the Top (1959) triumph. Except here, he's too wooden for the role of occasional hedonist. Due to that expressionless exterior, any hint of pleasure seldom shines through and his crucial character fails to develop. And since the twosome slip and slide off each other for two remorseless hours, there's little let up in the ennui. The best part is the ending which I didn't see coming and was indeed unusual for it's time. All in all, it's too bad the spotty acting and plot repetition distract from the basic theme of body vs. soul. In my case, I was just too uninterested to want to delve more deeply into that worthy premise. If there's a moral here, I think it's something about good eggs not necessarily making a good omelet, let alone a tasty one.

tomsview I wanted to see this film after reading reviews of "Splendor in the Grass", which claimed that the basic idea for that movie was borrowed by William Inge from Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke". I love "Splendor," and wanted to see if the 'Bard of the Midwest' could possibly have copied from his friend's homework.I think nearly all the films made from Tennessee Williams' plays reveal their stage origins, but none more so than "Summer and Smoke". Sometimes that theatricality works in a film's favour as it does in "A Streetcar Named Desire", but here, it put me off at first. Nonetheless, there are many things I do like about the film. Set in a small town in Mississippi in the early 1900's, the story centres around Alma Winemiller (Geraldine Page), the daughter of a minister. She is in love with the boy next door, John Buchanan (Laurence Harvey), the son of the local doctor. Repressed emotionally, she believes that personal dignity is the most important thing of all; he on the other hand is adventurous and wild. While she stays at home nursing her mentally ill mother, he goes out into the world experiencing life to the full.John returns and has affairs with other women, including Rita Marino's Rosa Zacharias in a couple of over-the-top sequences. Alma is crushed, but although both eventually come around to the other's way of thinking, in the end they are just as apart as they were in the beginning.Although Inge probably saw "Summer and Smoke" when it opened on Broadway in the late 40's, any influence was slight to say the least. As far as the two movies are concerned, "Splendor" is the more accessible work while "Smoke" struggles to overcome its stage roots."Summer and Smoke" does picks up the pace along the way, and the two leads are good together. Geraldine Page is an unusually arresting actress, and repeats her role from the stage. She has some tough speeches to deliver, but the vulnerability of her character is painful to watch.I've always found Laurence Harvey a terrific screen presence, but a number of his peers from British cinema and theatre would disagree - some even thought him a bad actor. Maybe they got his roles on-screen mixed up with his life off-screen. However, there could also have been sour grapes involved; he was very good-looking, had a great voice and the camera loved him; he gives a confident performance in this film.I knew Elmer Bernstein's score long before I saw the movie. It is a beautiful and nostalgic work with a heart-wrenching main theme. The music gives a haunting sense of loss to the film, offsetting the static sets and overlit photography. It shows the power of music to enhance a film."Summer and Smoke" presents some challenging ideas. It's not the best translation of Tennessee Williams to the screen, but more than one scene stays in the memory.

brianwalker-341-207399 In my opinion, Geraldine Page was the greatest American Actress in the 20th Century. I believe that had she not spent much of her time on the New York Stage, she would have won several more Oscars, but was considered somewhat a Hollywood outsider.She should have won for Summer and Smoke, and Sweet Bird of Youth. She carried these movies by her great acting skills and hard work.All of her movies need to be on DVD. It is particularly surprising to me that Summer and Smoke has not been converted to DVD.Does anyone know if any of her Stage Plays have been captured on video, and if so, where such videos could be obtained?

sol1218 (Some Spoilers) Having carried a torch for John "Johnny Boy" Buchanan, Laurence Harvey, since childhood Alma Winemiller, Geraldina Page, had almost forgotten about him until he unexpectedly showed up, in his jalopy, at a Forth of July fireworks display at his and Alma's home town of Glorious Hill Mississippi.Johnny had been away for years studying medicine in order to fill his old man's Dr. Buchanan, John McIntire, shoes as the towns doctor. It doesn't take long to figure out what Johnny really is in his both arrogant and condescending display of hubris towards both Alma and his dad. Having hit every whore house gambling den and ginmill from Virginia to Mississippi Johnny got back home ten days late outraging his dad who refused to let him stay at his house.Spending the evening at the notorious Moon Lake Casino Johnny got right back into action gambling drinking and striking up a hot and heavy relationship with the joints owner Papa Zacharias', Thomas Gomez, hot to trot and hot blooded daughter Rosita, Rita Marino. Johnny in a effort to put the hurt on Alma, the town preacher's daughter, who's alway pestering and annoying him about the goodness of the soul lets it out that he plans to wed the fiery and anything goes Rosita.Angry and deeply hurt Alma gets in touch with Dr. Buchanan at his clinic about Johnny's wild and uncontrollable lifestyle that in the end might well end up killing him. Rushing home to bang some sense, and morality, into his son's head Dr. Buchanan finds the placed a total wreck. With dead drunk party goers, including Johnny Boy, and empty whiskey bottles littering the place Dr. Buchanan spots Papa Zacharias plopped down on his, Dr.Buchanan, favorite easy chair and completely loses it.Before Johnny, who's upstairs smashed on booze, could stop it Old Man Buchanan starts to beat the barley sober Papa Zacharias who in self defense pulls out a gun and blasts him away. Johnny seeing what a mess he made and not even being forgiven by his dad, on his death bed, turns over a new leaf and goes straight. Straight to his now deceased old man's clinic finishing the work, in saving the townspeople from a deadly epidemic, that Dr. Buchanan started.Alma who wanted to straighten Johnny out, in him seeing the light, during the entire movie succeeded beyond her wildest dreams! Johnny became so spiritual that he, in respecting Alma's wishes, refused to have anything psychical, or sexual, to do with poor Alma! Treating her as if she were an unapproachable and untouchable Goddess instead of a real live and wanting to be sexually fulfilled woman!Johnny throwing away his wild life of womanizing and drinking ends up marrying young, who's 19 years old compared to Alma's 35, Nellie Wells,Pamela Tiffin, who was once a student in Alma's Bible Sunday-school & singing class. Alma now left out in the cold losing the only man that she was ever in love with ends up doing what she tried to, successfully, save Johhny from doing. Alma gives into the sinful lifestyle that Johnny, with her help, just threw away! Discarding her strong religious upbringing Alma ends up going to the Moon Lake Casino with Archie, Earl Holliman, a lonely traveling salesman, whom she picked up in town, to have a wild crazy and wonderful time with!Beautifully photographed, in lushes color, the movie "Summer and Smoke" greatly benefited from the wonderful acting of Geraldine Page as the spinster religious and ultra sensitive daughter of the towns preacher Reverand Winemiller, Malcolm Attenburg. We also can't leave out the great acting contribution in the film by British actor Laureance Harvey. The very British, as well as Lithuanian/Jewish, Mr. Harvey seemed to have made a name for himself in playing Southerners as well as lovable heels all throughout his great but unfortunately short, Harvey died in 1973 from stomach cancer at age 46, movie and stage career.