I love it. And I DON'T have it on tape - don't want to. I prefer to be pleasantly surprised every time it appears on TCM... Then it feels like a gift - do you know what I mean..?
I know it's not a "masterpiece" (duh ;). I just love it! Everything about it. Everyone - yes, even the much-maligned Hamilton - is perfectly cast for this in-credible but sweet and gorgeous-looking fairy tale.
I have never wrote a review about a film ever! But I had to about this movie. It is an "encouraging" movie, because it inspires humankind to hope for the impossible, as Olivia De Havilland did in this film regarding the marriage of her daughter to an Italian socialite. She loved her daughter so dearly, and captured the emotions and diligence in her endeavors, which were to out-smart her new-found Italian soon-to-be family members into thinking that her gorgeous daughter was a normal American, when, in fact, she was a mentally-challenged survivor of a horse-riding accident.
This movie is not only credible, but beautiful. The scenery complemented by the beauty of Yvette Mimieux and the grace and style of Ms. De Havilland make this a lovely picture to watch. If anyone here is a dreamer, then this film is for you!
I guess I *am* a dreamer, Carl...:) Thanks for keeping this thread alive.
I do can not get TCM but would love a copy of this movie. How can I get someone to tape it?
shareTwenty years ago, I had a professor who raved about this movie, but I could NOT recall the name. I just knew it was about a mother and daughter travelling in Europe and the slightly "backward" daughter catches the eye of a foreigner who doesn't realize at first her condition because of the language barrier. So late Sunday flipping channel we got hooked on this and I realized this was the movie my professor had told us about. But I FELL ASLEEP during the last twenty minutes, which must have had the scenes where George Hamilton realizes that the girl is a little retarded but decides he loves her anyway. At least, that was what my professor described his favorite scene as.
I can't believe this movie isn't available on video. Does anyone know if it was ever available, and is just out of print? I'll have to tape it next time it comes on TCM.
I also guess I should watch it again, becuase at first I wasn't paying much attention until I realized this was the movie my prof told us about. I didn't really buy that the girl was mentally challenged - she just seemed as ditzy and blonde and Reese Witherspoon on any other young actress in any Legally Blonde - type of comedy. Or like Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot". So maybe I missed some dialogue between the parents about her ability to take care of herself. Anyway, a great find. Now there's only one OTHER movie my professor listed as a favorite that I haven't been able to track down.
You make an interesting point, Brian. If the girl were to behave like that in film made in, say, the late 90s, I suppose it would be perfectly acceptable and she would be seen just as a lovably "quirky" character. In LOTP she still IS lovable, of course, but there is no doubt about her slight mental "handicap".
Anyway, I absolutely agree that this film should be watched more than once to capture all of its nuances - some of them being overtly cynical, but dealt with in a surprisingly humorous way.
Well, I'm still kicking myself for sleeping through the last fifteen minutes, so I missed how the young Italian learned of her "handicap". I thought that TCM usually ran movies like this at least a couple of times over a week or two. Oh Well.
On another point, the current (i.e., February 2, 2004) issue of the New Yorker has a revue of a musical version of Light in the Piazza, based on the original novella by Elizabeth Spencer. I wasn't aware of the source of the movie and, now, the play, but am curious is anyone else has read this? The revue was very positive, and it noted an exchange where the young American shows off a scar behind her ear to the Italian. Later, we learn that it was a kick in the head by a pony that resulted in her arrested mental development. Was that in the movie version? Did ANYBODY out there tape this off of TCM? Arghghghghg... :)
The other movie that I caught - part of it, at least, on TCM and that I'm waiting for again was Reflections in a Golden Eye. That seems to at least be available on VHS, but TCM had a pristine, wide-screen broadcast of the movie when it was on a while back.
Brian, I didn't tape it off of TCM but network TV several years ago. It's not a great copy but good enough considering that it's not available on VHS or DVD. In the movie, the mother sat down early on with Clara's Italian instructor and explained about the accident but she never revealed it to her suitor nor his parents. She allowed her daughter to marry Fabrizzio with no explanation.
shareAnd in the early 2000's a girl behaving like that would be ...Jessica Simpson? There are a ton on nuances in this film and many of them revolve around how much of 'different' is handicapped, especially as shown in movies and television. Is Lucy Ricardo normal? And yet the Mertz's never thought about having little Ricky taken away from her. In Italy, a sweet pretty girl whose little eccentricities could be written-off as 'foriegn ways' could pass for normal enough. Especially with a husband who loves her and is perhaps a little childlike himself, he won't get annoyed that she never 'grows up'.
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I just saw this for the first time yesterday on TCM. olivia looked beautiful, and I was quite impressed by Geo. Hamilton. Spoiler: at the end, when the parents discuss the age difference as being the issue, and the father returns to Fabrizzio to tell him they will be married, the father says something to him like, "maybe they will never know that you are crazy"...implying that the Italian family was trying to pass him off too???...and George looks quite hurt and unhappy by that remark....I totally agree that I would like to see this movie again, but did anyone else get that line? Thoughts?
shareYou know, I just saw this film on TCM (of course) a few days ago; and because of your remark I was paying extra attention to what Naccarelli (Brazzi) actually says to Fabrizio. If I remember correctly, he says: "Do you want them to think we are crazy...?!"
It's Fabrizio's expression what I find puzzling (and slightly scary), especially because it's a lingering shot. There definitely IS something strange about that scene..:)
Too bad MGM didn't know how to exploit or sell this sensitive movie. It received almost no advertising when released and yet it had an excellent cast and was photographed in lush style in CinemaScope and color. Audiences liked it but it received very little in the way of advertising and was not a huge box-office hit. Probably won't be released to home video.
shareI caught this over the weekend on TCM (?) and while I agree that the acting was uniformly first rate and the cinematography and production design as rich and lush as the various locales deserved, I'm still left with a bad taste in my mouth, best summed up by the last paragraph of the review above. Not only did I find it insulting and stereotypical to Italians ("all they do is talk about movie stars", "the mothers-in-law take over the raising of the children", "they'll never notice her handicap"), I was put off by all the dowry talk -- were things really that blunt only 40 years ago? -- and most shocked at the ending, where pretty Yvette Mimieux, "with the intellect of a 10-year-old" is whisked off to her wedding night, apparently ignorant and unprepared of what's to come, while Mama de Haviland waves happily and tries to reassure herself that she's doing the right thing....
Ugh. What I wouldn't give to have seen the morning-after....
Yes. I definitely agree that there is something eerie (quite identifiable, actually) about the outcome of the film. It LOOKS like a "happy end" - but is it?
I am sorry to say I've never read the book, so I don't know what the author's intentions were. But Green definitely achieved certain unsuspected dimensions here.
It's not a "politically correct" film (thank heavens!); in fact, some of its implications (such as that Italians wouldn't be able to tell a retarded person from a "normal" one) are almost hilarious in their outrageousness. (Is that an actual word? :)
But there is SO much more to this film. So many subtleties, so many nuances...
I just can't decide whether they were introduced on purpose or are they only lucky "flukes".
The ending does make one feel that the story is not quite over. What will happen if the truth about Clara becomes known to either Fabrizzio or his father?
The girl is three years older than Fabrizzio (who is 23) but even more childlike than he is. Won't anyone care? Or notice? It does leave unanswered questions.
And, not least of all, what about Olivia's husband who was dead set against such a marriage. How is their marriage going to bear under the strain of the mother letting Clara marry Fabrizzio? Is the husband simply going to give his blessing?
Author Elizabeth Spencer never addresses any of these questions, which do linger in the mind if you think about it.
DigiGuide said "THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA" will be on TCM on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 at 6:40 but it could be 1:40 am EST (I think they give the time for London) ... but according to my cable service (Time Warner), it does not show up.
I am more curious than ever to see it again ....
Hi Doylenf,
I have been a fan of Spencer's original novella since high school. I adore the Broadway version as well as the MGM film version. All 3 for different reasons, but you are right about the questions that are left unanswered. Some may claim "plothole!" here, but I think it's masterful story telling.
I have just acquired a first edition of the book on ebay, and was put in touch with Elizabeth Spencer (she's living in Chapel Hill, NC). She has been very gracious and has offered to sign for me, so I'm mailing it off ASAP. I don't really know how to address the questions that you've posed here at the boards...but I want to, somehow. They've been in the back of my head for the past 15 years. I don't know if she can give any finite answers, but maybe she can elude to the scenario's that are in her head.
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I just saw this movie for the first time earlier this week and loved it. I agree that something is odd about that one scene, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.
shareSince the Sixties when this started being shown on TV, I must have seen this film no less than 50 times. In fact, I'm watching it on TCM right now.
I do not understand how people miss the amazing changes in Clara, from openly childish to haughty when her mother catches her going to meet Fabrizio. After all, she slipped out of the hotel room, away from the teacher, a real show of defiance! Also, she catches Clara and Fabrizio kissing. Clara's mind might be delayed, but her body is that of a healthy, lively young woman. She is not a little girl! Her mental age also seems to be advancing. Does no one notice what a good memory she has? Her mother is aware of this obviously, for she repeats/reads names to her and refers to a brochure, obviously expecting Clara to retain the information, and she seems to be adept at picking up a foreign language. We know that, in conversation with her husband, she says that she sometimes sees Clara as normal. Unfortunately, the man is determined to keep Clara in her place, so to speak, with thoughts of placing her in an institution, which likely would stifle the girl's spirits. Clara's mother is learning to loosen her hold on her daughter, realizing that Clara is "blossoming".
Interestingly, when Clara becomes hysterical at the pool, Fabrizio calms her quickly. However, her mother and father cannot calm her when she thinks they are separating her permanently from her "sweetheart" (what she calls him).
To me, Clara's behavior and her speech patterns undergo remarkable change, vastly different from the simple-sounding girl at the start. I've always felt when I watch this film that the changes/improvements will continue. When Clara becomes a wife and mother, part of the extended family, which someone previously wrote about, I think she will develop into a stronger person. Again, check her out in the scene where she has her hair up, crossing traffic under admiring gazes, only to be caught by her mother. That isn't a penitent little girl! Her expression is completely that of a grown woman.
Maybe this is all off-topic, but it is my response to what I've been reading in posts on this particular thread.
I'll end by saying that I most definitely am a fan of this movie. Everyone in the cast is wonderful, the scenery is amazing, and the story obviously is capable of starting debates 40+ decades later. That's not bad for a "little" movie though I would never call it an obscure one. I know too many people who love this film, counting it among their favorites.
~~MystMoonstruck~~
Well said, Cynsemele.
(And how could it possibly be "off topic" in any thread on this board?)
But I am surprised to see the rating of this film falling.
Don't get me wrong, I don't give a damn about IMDB's ratings; nobody could take them seriously, considering the prevalent population of these boards and their film education.
But it seems odd that most of those rabid regular voters would even know about this film, let alone have the patience to watch it through. So, are the more "serious" viewers really being that pedantic about it, seeing only its faults but none of its merits?
I'm surprised that I had never seen this movie before today. I had had a crush on George Hamilton when I was a teenager and I thought that I had seen all of his early films.
"...it feels like a gift..." - That is a great way to describe catching a beloved movie on television. Though I own many of my favorite films on dvd, I seldom watch them because I prefer to experience the anticipation when I know that one of them is scheduled to air soon, or the delight when I accidently chance upon one when channel surfing.
"...it feels like a gift..." - That is a great way to describe catching a beloved movie on television. Though I own many of my favorite films on dvd, I seldom watch them because I prefer to experience the anticipation when I know that one of them is scheduled to air soon, or the delight when I accidently chance upon one when channel surfing.