Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Manhattan William
The film is beautifully acted and the casting is spot-on. Vivien Leigh is perfect in this role, neither sickly sweet or icy cold. Beatty is great to look at and plays the gigolo without any histrionics. The Contessa is great and earned a well deserved Oscar nomination. The story is relevant even today (although unfortunately nowadays these things happen with far less elegance and finesse. What holds it back from a higher rating is that the character development between Mrs. Stone and Paolo should have gotten more focus and development. No real explanation is given for how the relationship developed as quickly and strongly as it did. Of course that aspect plays into the cool nature of the film in general which many might find correct for this material but I would have liked a bit more development between the 2 principles. Perhaps neither was able to express much in the way of "emotion" and that is surely part of the point, and the finale when Mrs. Stone throws the keys to the gigolo on the street because, realizing that love is elusive, physical needs can still be met and that provides a great ending to the film, very unsentimental and leaves one with a shiver.I enjoyed the film and recommend it but don't expect anything warm and fuzzy here because that is not in the cards, folks.
williwaw
When Vivien Leigh died the New York Times gave her death front page news. Ironically, this magnificent actress and great beauty had a short career in films and a rather short life.As we all know Ms. Leigh conquered Hollywood with her Scarlett O Hara beating out Jean Arthur, Paulette Goddard, Susan Hayward and just about every major female star for the role of the Century. Ms. Leigh won an Oscar for her performance and another one as her peerless Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Jack Warner thankfully bankrolled this film shot in Europe. One sees a magical artist at work. The shame of it all is that along with Ship of Fools were Ms. Leigh's last films. Warren Beatty does a nice job as the Gigolo and the film is recommended most of all for a supreme actress Vivien Leigh.
mikhail080
I'll say flat out right at the beginning, that if you don't appreciate the talents of Vivien Leigh -- you will not like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. This is her penultimate film, which was really made as a vehicle for her talents, without much of an ensemble cast and she's in nearly every scene. But the great actress is certainly up to the task of making this material work, although she is let down at times by contrivances of plot and other aspects of believability.Taken from famous playwright Tennessee William's novella, the story concerns aging actress Karen Stone, who yearns to retire with her rich husband, who unfortunately expires while on their way to Rome for their extended getaway. Then the lonely widow starts dating a handsome young Italian guy who has an unusually close relationship with the sinister contessa who introduced them both.Vivien Leigh as Karen Stone "drifts" through the movie, an ethereal presence that's nearly translucent, extremely delicate and cautiously mannered. The machinations of the plot allow her many opportunities to overstate or exaggerate, which is something Leigh never does. Many have said that this source material is kind of second rate Tennessee Williams, but even if true, Vivien Leigh's work here makes the very best of it in an engaging style.And the movie has the added benefit of young future superstar Warren Beatty, making his second feature film. Needless to say, he looks fantastic, making it much more believable that Mrs. Stone would become so enamored with him. It's evident that Beatty clearly dove headfirst into an attempt to transform himself into an Italian gigolo. I find the Italian accent he attempted to be perhaps a little lacking at some points in the way of his hitting a few wrong pronunciations that sound artificial at very few and select times. Other than that minor detail, Beatty fills the role more than adequately, and his star power is in abundance.And no small mention must go to fabulous Lotte Lenya (who scored an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress in this), as this unctuous Euro-trash "contessa" who deals in romantic relationships usually for women of a certain class, age and wealth. She's extremely creepy, and look for a frightening scene set inside a cavernous discotheque where the camera follows Lenya slithering through the crowd, making her way to the fragile Mrs Stone. Every scene with Lenya is a highlight in this movie, and also see how her intense love for her pet cat is expressed in the way Lenya artfully handles the willing feline.The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, surely a "must-see" for devotees of Williams, Leigh, Beatty or Lenya, and anyone who enjoys colorful European settings, vivid characters and glossy romantic drama.**** out of *****
bkoganbing
The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone is based on a novella by Tennessee Williams and I'm sure it was Tennessee who saw to it that Vivien Leigh was cast in the title role. After all Vivien had won an Oscar for playing that other Tennessee Williams sex starved female, Blanche Dubois.But Karen Stone is a woman very much like Vivien Leigh was in real life. Karen is an actress who's refused to grow old gracefully, when we meet her she's just been trashed by the London critics for a very bad portrayal of Rosamund in As You Like It. She's 50 trying to play a young girl in her teens. Better she should have played Queen Gertrude in a revival of Hamlet.Anyway she and her husband decide to take a long holiday in Rome, but as the plane is landing her husband has a heart attack and dies. He's left her well fixed and after a suitable period of mourning Mrs. Stone is ready for a little action in her life.This is Tennessee Williams so we're talking sex here. Vivien maybe too old to play Rosalind, but she's not too old to enjoy what Rosalind enjoys. And Lotte Lenya who makes a living procuring young men for her clients is willing to supply. Warren Beatty is what Vivien thinks she wants. Warren is the only real weakness in The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. He does pout an awful lot in the role and his accent is phony. But Vivien who was going through mid life crisis for decades before she died in 1967 was perfect casting. I'm not sure how much of it is acting and how much she's just playing herself. The woman had a lot of emotional and physical problems and as her husband Laurence Olivier frankly admitted, she was a nymphomaniac in real life. Lotte Lenya got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the Countess. However this was the year of West Side Story and Rita Moreno beat her in that category.This was one of the frankest discussions about sex ever put on film up to that time. In fact though no gay sex is discussed, right at the beginning you see a couple of men meeting for a tryst and you can spot a few obviously gay couples strolling throughout Rome. The Code was definitely coming down.One of the big pluses The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone has is that it was shot completely in The Eternal City. The movie industry loved Rome at that time with Roman Holiday, Three Coins In The Fountain, The Seven Hills Of Rome and now The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone all showing Rome to its best advantage. The other three films were a lot more upbeat than this one was.Stage director Jose Quintero did a great job with his cast in his one and only big screen production. The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone was done with Helen Mirren in Vivien Leigh's part several years ago. You might want to see both to compare.
