Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)

Suddenly, Last Summer - 1959

Our next film is 1959's "Suddenly, Last Summer", a movie about a rich widow mourning the loss of her only son and her mission to have her niece, who was her son's travel companion, institutionalized for her horrific memories of what happened to him.

The film's cast includes Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Mercedes McCambridge, and Gary Raymond.

Brain specialist and surgeon Dr. Cukrowicz is summoned to the home of Mrs. Violet Venable, a rich widow whose financial support is greatly valued by the hospital he works for.

As he waits, a voice is heard and a chair appears to descend from the ceiling.  Mrs. Venable speaks to Dr. Cukrowicz: "I look just like an angel coming to earth as I float, float into view.  Sebastian, my son Sebastian was very interested in the Byzantine...Well, it seems that the Emperor of Byzantium, when he received people in audience, had a throne, which during the conversation would rise mysteriously in the air to the consternation of the visitors.  But as we are living in a democracy, I reverse the procedure.  I don't rise.  I come down."

Not expecting someone as youthful looking as Mrs. Venable, Dr. Cukrowicz is shocked at her appearance.  He tells her that he was told she was a widow.  Violet tells him, "I am.  I am in mourning.  White was my son's favorite color.  Perhaps, Doctor Sugar, you expected an old widow with a garnet brooch and a cane and a huge ear trumpet.  Well, I have all that to look forward to.  Life is a thief."

Violet tells Dr. Cukrowicz of the reason he is there.  She wants him to lobotomize her niece Catherine, who was with her son when he died.  Catherine suffered a nervous breakdown and collapse as a result and has been known to engage in "obscene babble", which could damage her son's reputation.  Violet is willing to finance a new wing of his hospital if he will do this.

She takes Dr. Cukrowicz inside and shows him her son Sebastian's belongings and invites him to sit in Sebastian's chair.  "It's a court jester's chair, a rare one, five hundred-years-old.  Please, sit on it.  Say something funny.  Make me stop wanting to cry."

Violet is full of quick wit.  When her secretary comes in bringing some medicine, she quips, "Isn't it nice of the drugstore to keep me alive?"  Dr. Cukrowicz agrees to meet with Catherine to evaluate her.

He goes to the mental institution where she is confined.  When he asks her about Sebastian's death, Catherine has trouble remembering.  There seems to be something that blocks those memories out.

"Truth is the one thing I've never resisted," she tells him.  Catherine wants to remember what happened, and is willing to work through whatever exercises Dr. Cukrowicz wants to do.

When she's later visited by her mother and brother, Catherine is told that they stand to receive a large sum of money if Catherine remains institutionalized and undergoes a lobotomy.

She runs away.  However, she runs straight into the men's ward of the mental hospital, and narrowly escapes with her life.

When Violet visits Catherine at the doctor's urging, Catherine tries to get her to reveal certain things about Sebastian's demise.  Violet is extremely resistant, and she faints to avoid saying anything.

Catherine runs away again, this time to the women's ward at the hospital.  She is prevented from jumping over the railing at the last moment.

Dr. Cukrowicz brings Catherine to Violet's home.  There, he administers a truth serum which will unblock any resistance to her her memories.

Catherine begins to recount witnessing the horrific details of Sebastian's death, and the secret that he carried.  The events that she is forced to relive cause her to have a final breakdown.

Violet loses her mind when she hears Catherine's recollections.  She calls the doctor by her son's name and behaves as if they are on holiday.

He takes her inside, where she gets inside her elevator chair.  Violet ascends through the ceiling talking on as if in a dream world.

When Dr. Cukrowicz goes outside to check on Catherine, he finds that she is recovering from her breakdown and the darkness behind her eyes seems to have left her.  She is ready to rejoin the world.

Cast rundown:

   Elizabeth Taylor....................................Catherine Holly

   Katharine Hepburn................................Violet Venable

   Montgomery Clift..................................Dr. Cukrowicz

   Mercedes McCambridge.........................Mrs. Grace Holly

   Gary Raymond......................................George Holly

And that's it for Suddenly, Last Summer.  This was Elizabeth Taylor's first film after her contract with MGM ended.  She used her star power to insist that Montgomery Clift star opposite her.  Clift had been in a car accident and was heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol at the time.  The director acted horribly towards him.  Katharine Hepburn hated the way he was treated.  When the director said "cut" for the final time, she walked up to him and asked if she would be needed anymore for the film.  When he said no, she immediately spat in his face in defiance of the way he treated Clift.

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