Katharine Hepburn shines as an American spinster vacationing in Rome, where she quickly falls for the very suave, very married Rossano Brazzi. Brazzi, who was typecast early on in Hollywood (nearly always portraying the foreign cad with the seductive come-on), is ostensibly an ill-suited match for nervous, chatty Kate, but they manage to pull off the hand-me-down plot contrivance--first love dashed by fate. Director and co-writer David Lean's cinematic sweep tends to dwarf the story, which originated as a far more intimate play (Arthur Laurents' "The Time of the Cuckoo"). Lengthy travelogue with a built-in tearjerker-trap does showcase nearly all of Hepburn's strengths as an actress; she is sometimes annoying, yet wistful, romantic, dreamy-eyed. Fabulously photographed by the peerless Jack Hildyard, and lovely entertainment for wallowers of sudsy romance stories. *** from ****
Review of Summertime
