The Rose Tattoo
by Daniel Mann
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Actor: Anna Magnani, Ben Cooper, Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan, Virginia GreyDirector: Daniel Mann
Brand: LANCASTER,BURT
Cinematographer: James Wong Howe
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Writer: Hal Kanter
Writer: Tennessee Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Italian (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
Published: 2004-09-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-09-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of The Rose Tattoo
DVD Review: Rose Tattoo, Sicilian Mirror
Summary: 5 Stars
This amazing story focusing upon the motif of a Rose tattoo takes place in a mid-20th-century American community of Sicilian immigrants. The community's livelihood centers around a fruit-growing industry. The set features palm and banana trees, and modest, frame houses with shutters. A note of interest: The main action of the story takes place in a house that was apparently Tennessee Williams' house in Key West. The "historical" setting of the action seems to be somewhere in Southern Louisiana, not far from New Orleans, where a number of Sicilians did actually settle.
The main character is a passionate lady, a "baronessa," with the very common Sicilian given-name of Serafina, and the very significant surname (considering the title of the story) of Delle Rose. She is, in other words, an "Angel of the Rose." Several characters in the story have "Rose" names, and several characters in the story have Rose tattoos. Serafina is notably a woman of strict Catholic moral values, with a devotion to the Virgin Mary. The mother of an attractive teenage daughter, Serafina finds herself pregnant again in middle age. Passionately in love with a husband that she adores, she's happy about the new son that she is sure will be arriving. Suddenly, however, Serafina is devastated by monstrous new circumstances: The death of her husband, the shock of which causes her to lose the baby; the unbearable knowledge of her husband's unfaithfulness to her; and her daughter's growing love for a young man who Serafina fears will violate the girl.
The ins and outs of the story moving around the Love/Passion symbol of the Rose, a common symbol also of the Virgin Mother, devolve out of these circumstances. The central theme of the tale is Passion--the passion of human romantic love--and Serafina, while she fiercely tries to hold onto chaste values outside marriage and insists upon them for her daughter, is an embodiment of this passion.
Two love stories are interwoven and fraught with temptations throughout the film. Serafina places her daughter's love story under the dominance of the Virgin Mary, as shown in the scene where she requires the young suitor to swear before the Virgin's statue that he will not take advantage of the daughter. Then, when she's alone with the Virgin Mother, Serafina asks her for a sign regarding her own love! Both love stories aim ultimately at the traditional bonds of marriage as the container for their passion.
A new love relationship, both welcome and unwelcome, enters Serafina's life with the loud and riotous pianorole strains of "The Sheik of Araby." Burt Lancaster does a fairly good job of making believable the extraordinary sort of fellow he plays. This character, whose surname in translation means "Eat a Horse," is so lowborn he seems to have sprung accidentally from a rock! Uninhibited and impetuous, he is, a "wild gypsy of a man." Nevertheless, he is very capable of compassion and gentleness. He's a direct, upfront, clown of a lover, dancing around his lady, bouncing carefree between earth and sky, where, waving his arms like a bird from a perch upon a cross-shaped boat's mast, he sings over and over, "I'm a happy fellow!"
I didn't "see" it at first, but Anna Magnani's acting is precious. She has created a real jewel of a character in Serafina. What a beautiful lady.
Despite the picture's having won three Academy Awards, my impression has been that "The Rose Tattoo" was one of Tennessee Williams' less popular works. I admit that I viewed the movie twice before I got to like it. My advice to viewers, therefore, would be to watch the movie several times before making the mistake of writing it off. In sum, in the end, the movie is a merry comedy of happy resolution.
I think if descendants of some of America's Sicilian immigrants had realized that this movie was very much a mirror of their culture and identity as early Sicilian immigrants, there'd have been an eagerness on their part to see and enjoy the movie. Perhaps there was, and I didn't know about it.
Description of The Rose Tattoo
Upon meeting Alvaro, a happy and carefree man who reminds her of her deceased husband, Serafina emerges from her reclusive life and finds solace in this man who is startlingly similar to her beloved husband. Not only does Alvaro have the same occupation as her late husband, but he also has the same rose tattoo on his chest. Seeing these common traits between the two men as a sign, Serefina?s life takes a change for the better.Bestsellers in DVD
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