It has been over fifty years since Anna Magnani played the wonderful and tormented Serafina Della Rosa for Tennessee Williams' Rose Tattoo. Anyway, I think it's time somebody out there reconsidered updating this film to today's color. How about Linda Fiorentino who is about the same age as Anna Magnani was for The Rose Tattoo? Sadly, I wrote and sent a DVD and an original first edition book of The Rose Tattoo to Linda's representatives in Los Angeles but to no response as of yet. Maybe they think that nobody would be interested in a story about a mature Italian American woman tormented inside, pretending to be outside. Of course, there are other actresses who can do the role whether on stage which it still is or for a television movie or film. I thought Anna's performance was remarkable in that she was raw, determined, fierce, yet vulnerable and heartbroken. It reminds us that good films are not about special effects, violence, or sexuality but about a story, characters that we love and never forget.

I recommend this film solely to witness Magnani's performance, which was an utterly beautiful piece of acting, indeed. Although I did not feel pulled into the plot very much, I did sympathize with Magnani's character because she played her part with such heart. I must admit that I was disappointed by Lancaster's overacting, and the minor actors also were not at all impressive. Also, I do not feel inspired to read the play itself because I don't think that reading it could compare to watching Magnani's riveting performance through which Magnani's soul itself seems to bleed.Although I cannot think of another film with such an engaging actress, the beginning tone and ambiance of this film reminded me of other Tennessee Williams works. The atmosphere is open, naked, and almost frightening; Williams's plays always introduce characters that are very human--weak, lonely, unsettled--and deeply passionate. He doesn't take care to hide the frightening and desperate side of people even though we may not want to see that. He makes no exception in this piece, and this sense of humanity is most effectively portrayed through Magnani.

Tennessee Williams was a good friend of Anna Magnani, the great Italian screen star. It was with her in mind he wrote "The Rose Tattoo", but she never played it in the theater because she didn't feel too comfortable, at the time, in doing the play in English.Anna Magnani was born to play Serafina; she smolders the screen every time we see her. She is the sole reason for watching the film. Daniel Mann miscalculated in the adaptation, by Hal Kanter, of the play he had directed on Broadway, and it shows. The basic failure is that he made the character of Alvaro Mangiacavallo into a buffoon. Burt Lancaster seems to have been directed to go for laughs rather than being the sensual man he is in the play. He must awaken Serafina from the self imposed mourning she is experiencing at the time they meet."The Rose Tattoo" has a Greek tragedy feeling. Watch Serafina at the beginning of the film shopping at the grocery store among the neighborhood women. Later, the same thing happens. At the most dramatic moments, the chorus comes to surround Serafina; it's a ploy to make her react to them and vent her anger at the ignorant women who are her neighbors and clients, but not her real friends.Serafina is a dignified woman who is still living back in Sicily, even though she is now in New Orleans. Her daughter rebels against her mother, who can't understand the American ways. When her husband Rosario dies, her whole world falls apart. Rosario has been the only man in her life and she wants to stay at home and not face reality, until the appearance of Alvaro, who manages to win her over with his simple ways.Anna Magnani gives a performance that is larger than life.

If you're willing to be surprised, you may find this quite enjoyable. Any film buff going out of the way to see this (and ONLY film buffs go out of the way to see anything made more than a generation ago) will probably expect it to be a tragedy. The same film buffs, encountering this comedy, will be shocked at the serious turns it takes. This a comedy written by Tennessee Williams, a writer of tragedies. We are used to his tragic settings and, to see these turned upside-down is, if you will, dizzying. One scene could have been in any of his tragedies unaltered; a scene in which two gossiping gals, off to a convention, traipse around Serafina's house while waiting for her to make the dresses they've commissioned. They taunt her with innuendo about her late husband; they shout at the window at conventioneers in a car; they rub their luck in Serafina's face. It's grotesquely realistic. The rest of the movie is alternately brutal and giddy. Shakespeare's comedies are not laugh-fests, and O'Neill's are comedies because nobody's weeping at the end. Writers of tragedy practically celebrate catastrophe, and when they write comedies, cheerfulness is worn like a mask. Drama is second-nature to Williams. This comedy, containing every theme of his tragedies, is, of course, reliant on the Greek formula for comedy. I loved this big surprise of a motion-picture.