Light in the Piazza

As she got older Olivia DeHavilland picked and chose her roles a lot more carefully. An absence of three years such as the one she had before accepting Light In The Piazza was not unusual for her. I think it was in part a reaction to her days at Warner Brothers where she was put into a whole lot films she didn't like.

At the time she made Light In The Piazza Olivia was living in France with her then husband Pierre Galante and raising their children. So a location shoot in Rome and Florence was no big move. Rome saw its share of films extolling the beauties of the Eternal City. But in this one the Renaissance beauty of Florence got its share of cinema immortality. The color cinematography of Light In The Piazza was its greatest asset.

Olivia is on a mother/daughter holiday in Florence with Yvette Mimieux who when she was 10 was kicked in the head by a horse and has stayed at that age emotionally. But her physical development wasn't arrested any and she gets the attention of young Florentine George Hamilton. There's a whole lot of concern from both families because Hamilton is the same way.

In addition to her daughter's romance, Olivia gets courted by Rossano Brazzi who is Hamilton's father. Some of the plot of A Summer Place is borrowed here as we glimpse into their married lives, Brazzi with the eternally crying Nancy Nevinson and DeHavilland with stuffed shirt Barry Sullivan who wants to institutionalize Mimieux because she's becoming an inconvenience.

Light In The Piazza got an Oscar nomination for Best Sound. It was produced at MGM by Arthur Freed who was now out of the musicals business. Still this film has some of the decorative gloss that an MGM Freed musical you would expect to have. Yvette Mimieux may have given her best screen performance here. I think you'll agree.

... with Olivia de Havilland as the mother of a "simple" girl who was brain-injured as a child. As played by Yvette Mimieux, she naturally attracts the attention of a young Italian (George Hamilton), much to the alarm of the mother who still treats the girl like a 10-year-old. You have to wonder what the real purpose of the trip to Italy was. Rich and aimless, De Havilland seems quite happy just lingering in Florence, with no plans or agenda. There's a husband back in the US (Barry Sullivan) and Hamilton has an opportunistic father (Rossano Brazzi), who seems to like the idea of a dowry.

I never read the novella so I have no idea how this was all originally portrayed. Once De Havilland settles on the idea that the daughter could be happily married into the Italian family, she sets out to ensure it happens. The only snags are that Sullivan wants the daughter placed in a home, and Brazzi balks when he finds out the daughter's real age.

It's a sweet-natured film with a sly sense of humor. This story was recently turned into a Broadway musical, oddly enough.

I think this film is among the most underrated of its era. It has what is likely Yvette Mimieux' finest performance, and it's in a difficult role as well. Though the story centers around Clara (Mimieux), who is 26 but has the mind of a child, it is really her mother Meg's story, nicely played by Olivia de Havilland.

Meg has brought Clara to Florence, Italy, to get her daughter away from a boy back in the states Clara had gotten close to. What drives the plot is Meg's desire for Clara who had been kicked in the head by a pony at age 10 and is mentally stunted, to have a normal life. When Clara is pursued by a young Italian Fabrizio (George Hamiliton), Meg doesn't really know what to do. On the one hand, she doesn't want Fabrizio and his family to discover Clara's "condition," but on the other, Fabrizio has an amazing effect on Clara. They are truly in love.

Things get more complicated when Meg meets Fabrizio's father, who takes more than a friendly interest in Meg. She is very capable of taking care of herself, though. What really upsets her is a visit by her husband (Barry Sullivan), who has long ago given up on the idea that Clara could have any semblance of a normal life.

Though Mimieux and de Havilland shine, the whole cast works well, including Hamilton as Fabrizio. Hamilton seems to be the whipping boy of the critics. I'm not sure why, but perhaps it's his good looks and that he looks privileged. It may be acerbated by the fact that he often played characters of privilege. Two years before he was a rich playboy in MGM's "Where the Boys Are," so perhaps critics couldn't buy him as an Italian. Nevertheless, Hamilton is really appealing in "Piazza." Even his Italian accent blends with the real Italian actor who plays his father, Rossano Brazzi. Hamilton's scenes with Mimieux often surprise with their level of emotion.

If you haven't figured this out already, this film is for romantics, and if you find these sorts of films corny, you'll probably have the same reaction here. However, for those of us who enjoy a nicely told romance in an idyllic setting, "Light in the Piazza" is hard to beat. It's much better than Warner's "Rome Adventure" the same year, a film full of beautiful locales but more soap than genuine opera. In "Piazza" director Guy Green unfolds the drama naturally, and keeps a tight grip on this character driven story all the way to the glorious ending.

Green continued working with Mimieux in her next film, "Diamond Head," where she plays the sister of Charlton Heston. It's another exotic love story, but not as successful as "Piazza." Yvette Mimieux, who made a big splash in George Pal's "The Time Machine" and "Where the Boys Are" in 1960, never really reached her full potential, but she came awfully close to giving a great performance in "Piazza." To play a 26 year old who throws tantrums, has physical fits and sleeps with teddy bears without garnering audience disdain, is quite a feat. A role like this could easily become obnoxious or succumb to treacle, but Mimieux manages to make us care and root for her. As crazy as the idea of a girl so mentally stunted ever having a normal life might be, we come to want it for her. We never lose our affection for Clara, as crazy as some of her actions are. Mimieux plays her as a likable, lovable daughter and an appealing lover. A pleasant person. As Mimieux' performance shows us, it's clear why Fabrizio fell for her.

Meg is the anchor of "Piazza," and de Havilland pulls us through the twists and turns of the story with a likable display of perseverance. Her scenes with Clara are filled with warmth, but tinged with unease, as they should be. de Havilland and Brazzi have many wonderful and amusing scenes together as they get to know each other, while at the same time keeping secrets from one another.

The lush score by Mario Nascimbene is very much of its time, but is well suited to the film. It never seems to intrude, but adds that touch of European exotica appropriate for the time and place. Following "Piazza" and "Diamond Head," director Guy Green went on to do what is probably his best film, "A Patch of Blue," another unusual romance. He apparently liked them.

There are things in the film that date it, primarily the use of rear screen projection for the scenes with de Havilland and Brazzi driving around in a small car. The filmmakers even removed the windshield so as not to block the view of the actors and this makes the scenes so ridiculously fake they are laughable. Interestingly, I recently saw 2010's "Letters to Juliet," which is also a romance that takes place in Italy, and the car scenes were done the same way. The only difference is that technology has gotten much better and the effects were harder to spot. Nevertheless, I spotted them.

For some reason, some films made at MGM in 1962 were poorly received and heavily criticized. "Mutiny on the Bounty" with Marlon Brando, and "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" with Glenn Ford (and Mimieux as his sister), are two other examples. This was the same year as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Lawrence of Arabia," both of which were well received. "Bounty" and "Horsemen" seemed to have been reassessed in recent years and if you read comments on both they are much better appreciated these days. Perhaps the reason "Piazza" is late in being reassessed is because until now, it has not been available. The Warner Archive has finally put this film on DVD and for those romantics willing to take a chance, they will probably enjoy it immensely.

I found this move, seen on Turner Classic Movies, to be a very touching love story. I particularly liked the Olivia deHavilland as Meg Johnson, the mother of a beautiful young woman, named Clara with a slight mental impairment, played by Yvette Mimieux.

On a trip to Italy with her mother, Clara is eyed by the young men she passes in the piazzas of Florence and Rome. Before long, she is pursued by Fabrizio Naccareli, a young Florentine, played by George Hamilton, who seems to have fallen in love with her at first sight. He is very enthusiastic and playful, a love match for Clara. At the same time, Fabrizio's father, Rosanno Brazzi, who is married, strikes up a friendship with Meg.

It was apparent that while she wants the best for her daughter, Meg treats her disability as a social stigma. This seems to be in contrast with Fabrizio's Italian family, who have a more natural approach to Fabrizio, who is also somewhat immature, while totally charming.

Some of the movie is very dated; for example, the way Olivia deHavilland lights a cigarette every time she encounters a moment of stress. The smoking theme becomes more pronounced with people offering each other cigarettes, not to mention Clara's father's high paying job in the tobacco industry. There is a bit of a running joke linking the Johnsons with actor Van Johnson, whose name is less familiar to a 21st century audience than it was in 1962. However, these telltale signs that date the movie also seem to be part of its appeal.

In other respects, the movie is ahead of its time and seems to tell viewers to allow love to flower and grow. Meg found a change of heart on the trip. While reluctant to let go of her free-spirited daughter, she couldn't deny the love that Fabrizio and Clara shared. The movie throws a few twists in how the story plays out. As always, it is a credit that TCM brings movies out of the dusty corners of the past. They tell us something about the time while giving us unexpected entertainment.

This film walks a fine line between touchingly sweet romance and unintentional hilarity. It comes out on the better side of quality drama thanks to some sincere acting by de Havilland and the wry romanticism of Brazzi. Ms. de Havilland is a wealthy tourist on an extended stay in Florence, Italy with her beautiful, but childlike daughter (Mimieux). Mimieux has suffered an accident which left her with a stunted mental age and de Havilland has taken her abroad to keep her out of trouble as she blossoms physically and attracts men. (With this in mind, Italy may not have been first stop on most people's itinerary!) Hamilton is a very eager and adorable young Italian who falls head over heels for Mimieux and eventually furrowed-browed de Havilland must determine whether to move on or allow her daughter a chance at happiness, at the possible expense of her suitor. Brazzi stirs things up as Hamilton's father and Sullivan adds some welcome conflict as de Havilland's hard-nosed husband. Mimieux does a very fine job presenting this difficult character. She is definitely inappropriately childish, yet lovely and sweet. She has one particularly effective scene in which she becomes overexcited and nearly hyperventilates. Hamilton is charming and appealing and Brazzi is ever-suave. Ms. de Havilland (decked out in crisp, tailored, Christian Dior clothes throughout) projects the right amount of concern and longing for her daughter's happiness. She even gets a carriage ride that is only slightly less rough than the one Vivien Leigh took her on in "Gone With the Wind"! She is the emotional core of the film. (People continually refer to her tan in the film, but she looks as pale as a cameo most of the time!) A must in widescreen format, the location filming adds much flavor to the film (which makes it all the more jarring when background screens are used...thankfully very little.) From a certain perspective, the film's message could be quite offensive. It seems to suggest that if a retarded girl wants to be happy, get married and have a family, she only has to go to Italy where no one will be able to tell and she won't have to do much of anything anyway!