The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Too much of everything

Absolutely Fantastic

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In general, it seems that most big name actresses are loathe to admit that time has caught up with them. Too often, as they get older, the become vain about their age and often portray women MUCH younger than they really are. However, in the case of "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone", Vivian Leigh does something rather brave--she plays a woman who is about 50 (just like Leigh was at the time) and who can no longer play these young woman parts. And I can really respect her for playing a character who hits close to home, so to speak.When the film begins, Karen Stone (Leigh) is starring in a play. The problem is that her character is just too young for this aging actress to play. Not surprisingly, the audience members think the same and instead of continuing, she decides to quit and take her husband to Italy. He's been ill and this is the perfect excuse to allow her to gracefully pull out of the play. However, on the flight to Rome, he has a heart attack and the credits begin. Soon you learn that he died on the flight and Karen is in this strange city...alone and grieving for her husband.Because Mrs. Stone is so vulnerable, a horrid old lady has been grooming her--grooming her to be taken by a handsome young gigolo, Paulo (Warren Beatty). Slowly, Paolo insinuates herself into Karen's life and after a while, they become lovers. However, some possible problems occur--Paolo MAY be falling for her for real and Karen soon learns that Paolo has taken advantage of other women and is planning on doing this to her as well. Oddly, however, the relationship continues--even though his prey knows what she's getting into with him.As I watched this movie, I kept wondering why they cast the characters like they did. Although Beatty did a good job as an Italian, why not just get a handsome young Italian actor?! Also, while Leigh was very good, why have her play an American actress--why not change the story to make her a Brit? I just cannot understand the producer's thinking in both these cases.So is the movie any good? Well, yes. But you also have to have a very high tolerance for seeing a woman in pain and not mind how unrelentingly grim the story is. This isn't surprising, since it's a story from Tennessee Williams.

This is a sad film about a beautiful woman who believes only youth matters. She equates aging with a fading ability to be loved. Perhaps this really is how aging actresses feel. After all, sadly, many only get parts based on their beauty and youth more than talent. Once they get older they feel useless and unloved. She has wealth and fame even a still impressive beauty, still that is not enough. She is vain, she must have youth too. Perhaps she also feels her youth was wasted on a much older husband. She looks for youth/love in the wrong places now. Places she knows are wrong. She lets obviously seedy characters take advantage of her, not because she was naive, it was because she didn't care. She's experienced enough to have known better in fact she did know better so did her friends. It's hard to sympathize with Mrs. Stone in this movie. We still do. All the warning signs are there for her, still she insists on driving off that cliff ahead eyes wide open to it. That said Vivian Leigh is wonderful in this role and makes the film well worth seeing. Her talents make her character Mrs. Stone and the film believable. I've read that some feel Warren Beatty was miscast in his part. Personally I thought he did fine for this early point in his career. No he was not on a par with Ms. Leigh's talent, still he pulled off the character well. The directing, the photography and secondary characters are all excellent. The feeling of sadness and impending tragedy hangs over the film like a fog. It's personified by Mrs. Stones stalker. The ending is left open for interpretation. Some people might find the final scene annoying, I found the ending appropriate. I won't go into that here. I'll save it for the discussion board to avoid spoilers. I'll just say...the ending was chilling !

" And when the time comes when nobody desires me for myself:I would rather not be desired at all"As with all Tenessee Williams adaptations it's the characters that keep the viewer interested, always intriguing and seemingly fractured with personal demons. The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is no different, and much like the other adaptations the actors on show here come up trumps to realise the heavy dialogue driven story. This film centres on an ageing actress whose husband dies and leaves her to face her fears whilst holidaying in beautiful Rome. Here she is pimped a male companion for company and the film then fleshes out the respective characters to a craftily ambiguous ending. But it's the journey that each characters psyche takes that lifts the film above average.The back story to the film is a belter and knowing this back story helped me to enjoy the film much more than perhaps I would have. Vivien Leigh is here as the scared and alone ageing actress who falls in love with a much younger man, in real life Leigh's husband Sir Laurence Olivier had just left her for a younger woman. You can't help believing that the wonderfully tragic performance she gives here is really from the heart. The character of Karen Stone is actually based on Tenessee Williams himself, all the fears and stresses of the title character are how he felt has he penned this novella. Warren Beatty is a fine choice as the gigolo of the piece, he looks the part and actually looks like an Italian man, but I really can't vouch for his accent because during scenes where he gets angry he actually sounds more Soviet! That aside tho, he gives a well solid performance that didn't deserve the negative reviews that it got on release. Lotte Lenya {who later on would thrill me as the villainess Rosa Kleb in From Russia With Love} is brilliant here, in fact she almost steals the film as high society pimp, Contessa, all devilish charm with money signs sparkling in her eyes.Great writing, fine acting, and poignant to the last with a cracking and worth waiting for ending. 7/10.

Lugubrious adaptation of a Tennessee Williams short wants very much to be daring and adult, but comes off as tepid instead. Vivien Leigh is certainly well-cast as the recently-widowed, faded screen actress approaching fifty who, while residing in Rome, falls for a handsome gigolo. It's a slow, heavy-going soaper with extremely moody characters. Warren Beatty is pitilessly miscast as the Italian stud (though his wavering accent is good for a few laughs). The pacing does pick up after a deadly first hour, the cinematography is rich and the production has some sparkle, but otherwise there's no sting in this "Roman Spring". Remade as a 2003 TV movie featuring Helen Mirren in the lead. ** from ****