I'm a fan of the original movie with Liz Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift and I knew that the 1959 film was very different from the stage version. This version with Natasha Richardson, Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe seems to stick closer to the original text. The three leads are amazing but the supporting cast seemed to lack direction, grasp the severity of the situation at hand or even know how to really REact to situations. The man playing George (Richard E. Grant) had two modes, loud and frantic and quiet and frantic. When mad he would make the same arm gestures over and over again and showed absolutely no character development. Several times during temper tantrums, he paid no attention to where he was going and almost fell over parts of the set. His mother Ms. Holly (played by Moira Redmond) came off as being not only a ditz, but a drunk one at that and stumbled over many lines. Ms. Foxhill played to absurdity by Gillian Raine was painful to watch. Richardson and Smith were fantastic playing off one another and Lowe was greatly underused. Tennessee Williams wrote many tragic figures into his plays and stories and Catherine, the one in Suddenly, Last Summer was based in part on events that led to his (Tennessee's) sisters lobotomy. It takes a special type of talent and adaptation to pull off Tennessee Williams and the supporting cast missed the mark by such a wide margin that it was difficult to focus on the fantastic performances of the three leads.

"Suddenly, Last Summer" (1993 TV Version) I taped this version way back in 1993 & it is supremely faithful to the text (unlike the original version with Elizabeth Taylor). Maggie Smith is reserved where Katherine Hepburn is effusive. Similarly, Rob Lowe smoulders where Montgomery Clift languished. Natsha Richardson is not Elizabeth Taylor, but the Catherine of the original text is not the Catherine in the original film. The character is not seen until almost halfway through the play; the impact of her story is heightened that much more by her late appearance. Gone are the flashback location shots (mercifully), Natasha Richardson's delivery of her final monologue doesn't need flashbacks, one is able to visualize what she describes perfectly. This is truly superior to the original version.

I saw this movie on PBS several years ago by accident because I saw that Rob Lowe was in it. A good theatrical southern drama that takes place in the 30's I think. I would like to see it again as I think I might appreciate it more. Rob Lowe enters a family's lion's den as Dr. Sugar hoping to obtain funding for his project. He plays a southern doctor during the 30's very well, accent and all..Dr. Sugar does this delicate balancing act while the rest of the family members are being melodramatic in the old southern aristocracy way. He ends up hypnotizing Miss Foxhill and starts falling in love with her.I'm surprised this movie has not been on television more. It does bring out a different acting style to what we are used to seeing Rob Lowe do. If you get a chance to rent it, it is worth seeing just for the classical southern dramatics.

Mrs. Venable has to be one of Maggie Smith's most powerful small screen performances, her rendition of the crippled yet revenge ridden widow is a gothic portrayal which is matched with an equally memorable Natasha Richardson as Catherine. Every facet of this Richard Eyre production reeks of class, the supporting cast are divine with Rob Lowe turning in an understated Dr. Sugar who is pressured to perform a dangerous lobotomy on Catherine in return for substantial research funding by Venable. As the film progresses the viewer is drawn into the tense narrative and the final scene where Catherine is summoned to the house to relive the death of Venable's son before the unbelieving harridan is just phenomenal. Only seen once on BBC2 back in November 1993, this film surely deserves a video release or even a repeat showing. Why it has only had one British outing is beyond me.