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Suddenly,
Last Summer (1959)
In director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's melodramatic and
lurid adaptation of Tennessee Williams' 1958 play and Gore Vidal's
screen adaptation (toned down due to allusions to homosexuality,
cannibalism, pedophilia, and incest):
- Mrs. Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn), a prominent,
rich and elegant Southern belle widow in New Orleans, descended in
an elevator into the lobby of her Byzantine-decorated front lobby
to speak to Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) about her foundation's
financial gift to the state hospital, in exchange for the promise
of a lobotomy to be performed on her institutionalized niece, New
Orleans debutante Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor)
Mrs. Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn) Descending in Her Elevator
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Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift) Meeting with Mrs. Venable
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In the Garden, Mrs. Venable's Description of Catherine's Madness
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- as she toured through her deceased, idolized son
Sebastian's outdoor primordial jungle with the doctor, Violet kept
hinting about the circumstances of his death (in Catherine's presence
in Spain), and how Catherine's "obscene babbling" and lies about her
son needed to be silenced by a lobotomizing brain surgery
- Mrs. Venable recalled an earlier trip to the Galapagos
Islands (Encantadas) with Sebastian as they witnessed the horrible
devouring of newly-hatched young sea turtles by black vultures in
the sky, as they dangerously navigated their way back to the sea
- Mrs. Grace Holly (Mercedes McCambridge), Catherine's
avaricious mother, and Catherine's brother George Holly (Gary Raymond) arrived to follow
through on Aunt Violet's generous offer to gather up Sebastian's
clothes and wardrobe for the college-bound George
- Catherine described for Dr. Cukrowicz her recollections
of a Mardi Gras ballroom incident in which she 'lost her honor' with
a married man (who admitted his wife was pregnant); it was the first
time that Sebastian noted the power of Catherine's attractiveness
- after being transferred by Dr. Cukrowicz to Lions
View (with the implicit understanding that her transfer was in exchange
for submitting to a lobotomy), she was visited by her mother and
brother, who were there to have Catherine sign papers (demanded by
Violet) so they could receive $100,000 in inheritance money - of
course, Catherine was horrified and refused
- in a stunning scene, the hospitalized Catherine
walked across a catwalk in Lions View, where other 'crazed' male inmates
reached out to touch her legs from below
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From Below a Catwalk, Institutionalized
Male Inmates Reached Out for Catherine's Legs as She Screamed in
Horror
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- in the concluding scene set in the Venable home's
jungle-garden, there were impressionistic
flashbacks of Catherine's recounting of her day at the beach the
previous summer in Spain (Cabeza de Lobo), after her homosexual cousin
Sebastian (unseen fully in the film) had bought her a white one-piece
bathing suit that became transparent when wet - deliberately used
to lure in males for his own pleasure
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Catherine's Alluring One-Piece White
Bathing Suit
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The Cannibalistic Murder of Sebastian
by Spanish Youths
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- Catherine continued by delivering a climactic monologue
and accounting of a surreal murder scene - a horrifying incident
(cannibalistic homicide by ravenous Spanish youths) after Sebastian
was chased up a steep set of streets to the ruins of an ancient stone
temple where he was ravaged by the young boys (who was assumed to
be seeking revenge after being exploited by Sebastian for homosexual
encounters)
- in the film's conclusion, Mrs. Venable
became delusional while Catherine was cured and spared from being
further institutionalized and lobotomized
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Violet's Horrifying Recollection of Newly-Hatched Sea Turtles Devoured
by Birds
Catherine's Mother Mrs. Grace Holly (Mercedes McCambridge)
Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor) - in St. Mary's Before Her Transfer
Catherine's Fragmented Recollections of Her Last Summer Beach Trip with
Sebastian
Mrs. Holly and George Visiting Catherine at Lions View
Catherine: Spinning Her Final Climactic Tale About Sebastian
The Murder of Sebastian
Catherine: Cured and Spared from a Lobotomy
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