Summer and Smoke

A small town in Mississippi, 1916. Alma is the minister's daughter; closed off, fragile, and thought odd by the town. Her neighbour John is a doctor, fond of his pleasures, and unaware of the feeling Alma has quietly carried for years. Neither of them can live the way the other does, and neither can give the other up. Peter Glenville directed the film from Tennessee Williams's play. Geraldine Page plays Alma; she had played the part on stage as well, and for this performance she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar. The film took four nominations. The telling builds the split between spirit and body in Williams's own language; the result is sad and direct.