So far on the 1950s leg of the Oscar Challenge we've had two Tennessee
Williams adaptations Cat on a Hot Tin Roof which saw Oscar nominations
for Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman and A Streetcar Named Desire which
had three acting wins and a fourth nomination. Next up another film
adapted from a Williams play and once again it wins one of its actors an
Oscar, in this case Anna Magnani who scooped the Lead Actress prize for
her role as the fiery Serafina. The film sees Serafina's life crumble
after her husband dies she becomes a recluse and then finds out that he
was both a smuggler and was having an affair. At the same time she has
to deal with the fact that her daughter is growing up and has started a
relationship with a likeable sailor chap. After Serafina has a
mini-breakdown and a confrontation with the local priest she ends up
meeting Burt Lancaster's trucker Alvaro who is looking for a place to
stay. The second half of the film looks at the unconventional friendship
between Serafina and Alvaro and whether their flirtation would turn
into something more. The finale of the film sees Alvaro accidentally end
up in bed with Serafina's daughter and then after he disgraces her by
shouting up on top of a telephone pole she welcomes into the house as
the film ends.
Like with all adaptations of Williams' plays the film suffers from a
very stagy atmosphere. True out of the three I've seen The Rose Tattoo
probably has more scenes that are outside of the home including an odd
scene with Serafina's daughter Rosa and her boyfriend Jack having a
brief conversation by the sea which seems very out of place and slows
down the action somewhat. However the best thing about The Rose Tattoo
is Mangini's performance, if ever anyone wanted to see the literal
meaning of screen presence then they should watch her turn as Serafina.
From beginning to end she owns every scene she appears in tearing up her
house, madly walking through the town or simply in a state of shock she
is brilliant at everything she does in this film. On the basis of this
she more than deserved her Oscar for Best Actress beating more familiar
names such as Katharine Hepburn and Susan Hayward. Marisa Pavan is also
fairly impressive as Rosa who has a romantic subplot and is able to hold
her own in her scenes with Mangini however I was quite disappointed by
Lancaster's fairly broad trucker. Overall The Rose Tattoo is another
Williams adaptation which relies on its performers to carry the film as
it is pretty static filmic wise however for me with the exception of
Magnini's tour-de-force Serafina there isn't much to latch onto here and
there is a definite reason why this hasn't stood the test of time in
the same way that Streetcar or Tin Roof has.
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