Summertime - Katherine Hepburn

(aka 'Summer Madness')

directed by David Lean
UK / USA 1955

An American spinster’s dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome—but married—Italian man while vacationing in Venice. Katharine Hepburn’s sensitive portrayal of the lonely heroine and Jack Hildyard’s glorious Technicolor® photography make Summertime an endearing and visually enchanting film.

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 21st, 1955 - NY, NY - USA

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DVD Review: Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Criterion Collection - Spine # 22 - Region 0 - NTSC
(click titles for DVDBeaver reviews) This edition (without any extras) is also available in The Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films - a 50-disc celebration of international films collected under the auspices of the groundbreaking theatrical distributor. It contains Alexander Nevsky (1938), Ashes And Diamonds (1958), L'avventura (1960), Ballad Of A Soldier (1959), Beauty And The Beast (1946), Black Orpheus (1959), Brief Encounter (1945), The Fallen Idol (1948), Fires On The Plain (1959), Fists In The Pocket (1965), Floating Weeds (1959), Forbidden Games (1952), The 400 Blows (1959), Grand Illusion (1937), Häxan (1922), Ikiru (1952), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952), Ivan The Terrible, Part II (1958), Le Jour Se Lève (1939), Jules And Jim (1962), Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949), Knife In The Water (1962), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943), Loves Of A Blonde (1965), M (1931), M. Hulot's Holiday (1953), Miss Julie (1951), Pandora's Box (1929), Pépé Le Moko (1937), Il Posto (1961), Pygmalion (1938), Rashomon (1950), Richard III (1955), The Rules Of The Game (1939), Seven Samurai (1954), The Seventh Seal (1957), The Spirit Of The Beehive (1973), La Strada (1954), Summertime (1955), The Third Man (1949), The 39 Steps (1935), Ugetsu (1953), Umberto D. (1952), The Virgin Spring (1960), Viridiana (1961), The Wages Of Fear (1953), The White Sheik (1952), Wild Strawberries (1957), Three Documentaries By Saul J. Turell plus the hardcover, full color 240-page book.
Runtime	1:40:03
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 4.84 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Criterion / Home Vision Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Trailer (2:11) • 2 page liner notes by David Denby DVD Release Date: August 25th, 1998 Keep Case Chapters: 18

Comments:

This is a bit of an odd-duck Criterion - one of their lowest bitrates, no subtitles and is appears it could have been from an analog source, although it is filled with good film grain and the brilliant Technicolor makes it impossible to question. Criterion claims "new digital transfer was created from a new 35mm internegative" and I don't have the wear-it-all to argue. Bottom line is the image looks as wonderful as the film. No extras to speak of, but for the Criterion collector - or David Lean fan, this a good purchase. I forgot how much I enjoyed this film will I recently saw it again. It is worth owning for the scenery alone. Thanks for bringing it to DVD Criterion!

Gary W. Tooze

Thomas says:

I have owned three copies of Criterion's "Summertime", and I returned each of them for defects in the transfer. The image as a whole is beautiful, but when it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. In one DVD Katherine Hepburn's face dissolved into huge squares for the duration of several seconds. In the other defective DVD, the movements of the speaking mouths of the Brazzi and Hepburn were replaced by black and white bars. I forgot what the problem in the third disc was, but I returned that one as well. All came from the first printing of the DVD, and each happened at different moments in the movie. Since I really love the movie, I kept trying to get a non-flawed transfer, but no luck yet.