The Rose Tattoo (1955) was directed by Daniel Mann. It's based on a play by Tennessee Williams, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Anna Magnani as Serafina Delle Rose, a Sicilian dressmaker now living in Louisiana. (Actually filmed in Florida.)One drawback to the film is the miscasting of Burt Lancaster as Alvaro Mangiacavallo, a man who falls in love with Magnani. Lancaster was a good actor, but he's not good enough to convince us he's Sicilian. The second drawback is that the movie has "adapted from a play" written all over it. Director Mann shows us a police chase, a beach scene, and a trip to a church and to a gambling casino in an attempt to "open up" the play into a movie. It just doesn't work. It's unmistakably 1950's Broadway melodrama.However, there was more that was positive than was negative about this movie. Marisa Pavan as Serafina's daughter--Rosa Delle Rose--does a good job. It's an important supporting role, and Pavan excelled in it. (She also looked as if she could be Magnani's daughter.) The important point is that Magnani is wonderful, and the movie works because of her. Magnani was traditionally beautiful as a young actor, and, at age 47, she was still beautiful. However, she was no longer traditionally beautiful. Instead, she has a presence or aura that makes you want to look at her every moment that she's on the screen. She is a force of nature. Director Mann knew this about Magnani, and the great cinematographer James Wong Howe knew how to present this force to us. (I don't usually mention cinematographers in my IMDb reviews, but James Wong Howe won an Oscar for his cinematography in this film.)If you want to see a talented actor, at the full height of her powers, see Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo! That's not just my opinion--Magnani won an Oscar for her work in this movie.We saw this film on DVD, and it did well on the small screen. It's a great movie and a piece of cinema history. Find it and see it.

Anna Magnani was a revelation in this, her American debut film, as an earthy, tempestuous and full-blooded woman whose grief over the death of her husband is complicated by the discovery of his infidelity and the attentions of an unwelcome new suitor who holds out the offer of passion now gone from her life. Few actresses had ever made such a fiery arrival on American screens and her performance won her an Oscar as Best Actress. Subsequent screen appearances clearly showed that her acting range did not extend far beyond what she showed here, leading her to be somewhat typecast as a hyper-emotional Italian, but even if her legacy had only been this film, it would be memorable. Burt Lancaster is rather oddly cast as a slightly simple truck driver who has a crush on Magnani's character. Burt's physicality works here, but his obviously greater depth and awareness at times run counter to the live-in-the- moment needs of his not very bright character, and the resulting performance is never completely convincing. Marisa Pavan, the twin sister of better known Italian star Pier Angeli, got a nomination as best supporting actress as the fragile daughter struggling to hold her own grief in check, while searching for her place in a recognizably Tennessee Williams world of sultry Southern backwardness and soap opera passions. Excellent black and white cinematography by James Wong Howe won the film another Oscar and evocative production design created a believable Southern town square around which this otherwise rather stagy adaptation plays out. Like all Tennessee Williams dramas, this one can get somewhat overwrought at times, but Magnani and Pavan make it watchable - if ultimately dismissible - entertainment.

Unfortunately, for Susan Hayward, by 1955 Anna Magnani thought that her English was up to task to play in "The Rose Tattoo." She would go on to win all the major acting awards that year including the Academy Award as best actress. I never forgave Magnani for winning. I always believed that Susan Hayward deserved the honor for "I'll Cry Tomorrow."Magnani goes from a hysterical widow who throws objects around to a woman of lust, who is enamored by a simple truck driver played by Burt Lancaster.It is true that the Magnani showed tremendous changes in emotion in her Oscar winning performance.Well, maybe there should have been a tie.

I had been a fan of Anna Magnani's films long before first viewing "The Rose Tattoo". Always intrigued by this great actor, my expectations for this film were easily met.Magnani, a middle aged widow without means meets goodhearted Burt Lancaster, but feels she is betraying the memory of her late husband, whom she seems to worship even beyond his grave. Later the story reveals that this "gem" of a husband had been completely unfaithful and was not much to brag about.Adapted from the Tennessee Williams play, this material transfers nicely to the screen. If you are a fan of the two incredible leads, you will enjoy this movie! The absolute best Anna Magnani film in my opinion is "Bellissima", unfortunately not currently available in the USA.