'Speak... Don't Speak!'
Anna Magnani's great performance certainly deserved her Academy Award but that scene surely cinched it - a stunning piece of work.
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MovieChat Forums > The Rose Tattoo (1955) Discussion > 'Speak... Don't Speak!'
Nice ensemble cast. Williams writing was tempered by these great
actors. The cinematography in this feature film was very clean. The movement of the camera was subtle. Most of the scenes in the film take place in the dress shop and most of the charchters come and go from the interior of the dress shop. Perfect set up and great adaptation from stage to screen.
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I think the script was too poorly written in the first place. T. Williams' shadow was greater than people know and his talent wasn't. As confirmed by this screenplay. Anna Magnani needed a better command of English to have better commanded this role. She kept abusing the same gesture like it was her security blanket affirming she was dominated by having to speak English and carry this movie. She is beautiful though, I don't care how old she is.
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Like msilva7-1 said, she was beautiful in this film, and that's all that matters to him - and me.
But your reference, and his, to a stereotypical Italian rowdy woman is worth a comment. I think that it is true that she tried to learn English for this film, but she was far from understanding the language enough to actually speak it when the filming started. So, she learned her lines by heart - and delivered her in her gutsy, unique style. THAT cought me very deep indeed. Here is an Italian woman who doesn't speak English, acting as an Italian immigrant who doesn't know English but has to survive in a small American town... Hel alting English is more than superb, it has a ring of truth to it!
Her roles in Belissima and Mamma Roma were of outstanding worth in acting terms, but for me they lack the authenticity, the vibracing, the base portrayal of a character - that Anna possibly felt, was her self.
Hence her loud laughing on the phone, when she received the news from the States that she had been awarded the Oscar for the 1954 best actress...
Young girls who want to be actresses today will find in Anna Magnani a wonderful teacher - particularly if they get their hands on the films mentioned above, and as a role model if they get a television documentary about her life, including her relation to politics in her country.
It also helped to inspire another Oscar-winning role: Woody Allen claimed that it was a source for Dianne Wiest's part in Bullets Over Broadway.
shareThe great Anna Magnani delivered an astonishing and delicious-to-watch performance (like her own in "Mamma Roma") in a simply good movie. The subplot (her daughter's romance) was boring, for me. And Burt Lancaster's character was sometimes annoying, too...
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It's an interesting story and the movie is okay but I don't think it's nearly as good as some people seem to think. I know she won an Oscar but I'd say the same about Ms. Magnani's performance.
I agree, the daughter's romance is boring, but it's not really meant to be very exciting. The daughter and her relationship with the sailor are there to reveal Serafina's attitudes about love, sex, and relationships; and how those attitudes change after the secret is revealed and she meets Mangiacavallo.
I have never been a big fan of Burt Lancaster but, for me, his was the most interesting part of the movie. He played the role with the right mix of buffoonery and sincerity with a little humor thrown in. I don't know if he was wearing false teeth but his odd look, facial impressions, and strange behavior made me laugh.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
I liked that bit when I first saw it.
Just imagine any other actress trying to do that and not knowing how to do it. It relied so much on not being said and her face alone, since you saw no one else's.
I am typing this during the commercial break after that "don't speak" scene. Came right here because I knew there would be a thread about it, and I have to vote a loud "hell yes." You are seeing her whole, gradual thought process and realization, and it's a real gut puncher.
Never seen this film before but I'm going to settle in for the whole thing, based on that scene alone.