This movie was released in 1962.
Olivia deHavilland was the lead and it was one of her last movies ever made. I
saw this movie a couple of times when it was released during the days AMC
(American Movie Classics) was first on the air without commercial
interruption. I was completely glued to the movie – filmed in Florence, Italy (a rare treat), it also starred Rosanno Brazzi, a very young George
Hamilton and Yvette Mimieux. If you see it on TCM, watch it because it’s very
hard to find. You might be able to get it on Amazon.com and strangely enough
in London, England (you have to have a British converter to see it on our
VCR’s). Olivia, a Southern wife and mother, takes her twenty-something year
old daughter (Yvette) to Florence because the daughter had an accident as a 9
year old girl and suffered a head injury that resulted in her remaining, in
emotional growth, a 9 year old. Physically though, she is a gorgeous young
woman but her father wants to have her put in an institution, mostly because he
was embarrassed by his daughter behaving like a child. Olivia hires an Italian
teacher and shows her daughter Florence where she meets a young Italian man
(Hamilton). The two young people connect emotionally and because of the
language barrier, he is unaware of that the young woman is mentally a nine year
old. He wants to marry her and the mother (Olivia) panics but realizes it may
work and keep her out of an institution. The father makes a surprise trip to Florence, fearing his wife is pushing this friendship between his daughter and the young
Italian (who happens to be the son of Rosanno Brazzi’s character. Brazzi’s
character is gentle and romantic and Olivia’s character is charmed by him.
They arrange a marriage in a beautiful church in Florence and somehow a miracle
occurs.
My dear readers, I can’t tell you the ending – it would ruin it for you! If only for the visual beauty of Firenze and fine acting (Olivia and Rosanno are terrific as always), see this movie. It is based on the book of the same title by author Julius J. Epstein.
Let me know if you’ve seen it – write to me at KPuzo@insightbb.com
.