Summertime (1955 Film) - Production

Production

Arthur Laurents had written The Time of the Cuckoo specifically for Shirley Booth, who starred in the 1952 Broadway production and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance. Producer Hal Wallis expressed interest in purchasing the film rights, but felt Booth was too old for the role, and envisioned Katharine Hepburn and Ezio Pinza in the leads. Ilya Lopert ultimately acquired the rights with the intention of casting Booth and hiring Anatole Litvak to direct. It later was reported she was negotiating with Daniel Mann instead, and Laurents would be adapting his play for the screen. Laurents' screenplay allegedly was unsatisfactory, and newly hired director David Lean tried to improve it with associate producer Norman Spencer and writers Donald Ogden Stewart and S.N. Behrman, without success. He finally brought in novelist H.E. Bates to collaborate with him.

Numerous names were mentioned in conjunction with the project before filming finally began. At one point producer Lopert considered casting director-actor Vittorio De Sica as Renato. Roberto Rossellini expressed interested in directing the film with Ingrid Bergman as Jane, and Olivia de Havilland supposedly considered starring in the project.

Government officials initially resisted director David Lean's request to allow his crew to film on location during the summer months, the height of the tourist season, especially when local gondolieri, fearful they would lose income, threatened to strike if he was given permission to do so. The problem was resolved when United Artists made a generous donation to the fund established to finance the restoration of St Mark's Basilica. Lean also was required to promise the cardinal no short dresses or bare arms would be seen in and around the city's holy sites.

In one scene, the character of Jane Hudson falls into a canal when she steps backward while photographing Di Rossi's shop in San Barnaba di Venezia. Leading lady Katharine Hepburn, concerned about her health, was disinclined to do the stunt herself, but Lean felt it would be obvious if he replaced her with a double. He filled the water with a disinfectant that caused it to foam, which added to Hepburn's reluctance, then required her to film the scene four times until he was satisfied with the results. That night, Hepburn's eyes began to itch and tear. She eventually was diagnosed with a rare form of conjunctivitis that plagued her for the remainder of her life.

Upon seeing the completed film, Production Code Administration head Geoffrey Shurlock notified United Artists executives the film would not be approved because of its depiction of adultery. Of particular concern was the scene in which Jane and Renato consummate their relationship. Eighteen feet of footage was deleted, and the PCA granted its approval. The National Catholic Legion of Decency, however, objected to a line of dialogue that finally was trimmed, and the organization bestowed the film with a B rating, designating the film "morally objectionable in part."

In later years, Lean described the film as his favourite. He became so enamoured with Venice during filming he made it his second home.