Classic Film Guide

Rose Tattoo, The (1955)

A powerful performance by the woman this story was written for, Anna Magnani, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress in it. It also has Burt Lancaster, who plays a rather exuberant character. Nominated for a total of 8 Oscars including Best Picture, it won three. Based on the Tennessee Williams play. Magnani plays a woman who smothers her husband so much he has an affair. Then he is killed, caught smuggling. So, she withdraws herself from the community, working as a seamstress. Still ignorant of his affair, she brags to anyone who will listen about what a great man he was. She has a late teens daughter (Marisa Pavan) that wants to date, but of course no man is good enough for her. Enter a reckless (& over-the-top performance by) Lancaster, another truck driver determined to crack her ice & a beau (Ben Cooper) who is truly interested in her daughter. Virginia Grey, the woman with whom Magnani's husband was unfaithful, and Jo Van Fleet are also in the cast.

Purchase this DVD now at