SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER [1993]

 YEAH, THIS SEEMED RATHER RUSHED

and, of course, it isn't a patch on the movie version (despite it's 1950's censorship).

The performances of Natasha Richardson and Maggie Smith bump this up half a star because they're both so good. I'm not gonna really hit the easy target of Rob Lowe's performance because I'm fond of trees. Moira Redmond seems to have seen Mercedes McCambridge's portrayal in the film as she plays it almost exactly the same. Richard E. Grant is kinda wasted in an admittedly small part he does his best to enliven in this production. For such a southern-fried, hothouse play, it does seem very odd to have an almost completely British cast but we know that going in so there isn't any justification in complaining about it. Ditto the fact that some people moan and moan about "it looks like just a filmed play" because apparently people need flashing, needless camera tricks to be able to focus their pathetic attention spans. There are, in fact, quite a lot of 'camera moves' which don't call attention to themselves and frankly if you can't watch a one-set movie, go play a video game. No, this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' workhorse play is OK but nothing special; other than the performances of Smith and Richardson. It's cut down for the telly so we're missing a lot but, if you want to see SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER then go watch the fifties flick. You'll thank yourself for it.