Book Adaptations: Light in the Piazza (1962)

Light in the Piazza is a romantic film adapted from a novella of the same name written by Elizabeth Spencer. It follows a mother (Olivia de Havilland) and daughter (Yvette Mimieux) on vacation in Italy. The daughter is in her 20s but a head injury in childhood caused her maturity to stop advancing, so she has the mentality of a pre-teen. The mother is ultra protective of her daughter, but she cannot keep a young Italian man (George Hamilton) from becoming interested.

Variety said, “It’s Mimieux’s picture. The role requires an aura of luminous naivete mixed with childish vacancy and a passion for furry things and kind, attractive people. That’s precisely what it gets.” She is remarkably well suited for the part, not only for her acting ability but her elfin beauty. She carries herself like a girl who doesn't know how lovely she is, and she behaves impulsively and exaggeratedly. De Havilland deserves high praise for her performance too. She carries the film and depicts her internal struggle about her daughter's burgeoning relationship with subtlety without becoming melodramatic. Her love shines through her frustration.

Hamilton lobbied hard for his role. Originally, Cuban actor Tomas Milian was cast as Fabrizzio. Hamilton enlisted Mimieux's recommendation after working together in Where The Boys Are and began taking voice lessons from chief voice coach Gertrude Folger to deepen his voice and make it sexier. He also took Italian lessons from Rossano Brazzi. He begged studio executive Benny Thau for a screen test. He refused again and again but Hamilton would not stop. He went to his office and begged. He contacted an MGM shareholder and begged. When Thau went to Monaco on vacation, Hamilton followed. He bribed the staff to let him pose as a waiter the next time Thau ordered room service. When he entered, he played the part, and Thau was none the wiser. When Hamilton introduced himself, he finally was awarded the role.

The romance is sweetly portrayed. Fabrizzio is persistent and always wears a suit, partly a product of the times, but also a device to show he is putting in the most effort to win Clara over. The couple is in the honeymoon stage where everything the other person does is charming and wonderful. They play a scene the visually resembles the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. We are made to feel that their love is genuine and pure.

This is an opulent film. The skies are sunny and the people are dressed in beautiful clothes (de Havilland in Christian Dior) and the food sounds delicious. This movie makes me want to go to Italy. It is romantic and reveals the country to be dripping in history at every corner. It was cheap to shoot in Italy post-WWII, so Hollywood studios took advantage. Scenes were shot in Florence and Rome at the Plaza della Signoria, the Piazzele degli Uffizi, Piazza del Mercato Nuovo, Piazza di Santa Maria Novella and the Spanish Steps, among others. The mid-century look permeates both the clothes and the sets. I adore the blue bathtub in the ladies’ Florence hotel room and the pink sink in the room in Rome.

Film Bulletin wrote, “Julius J. Epstein's screenplay abounds in sensitive and intelligent dialogue and character development… Compelling entertainment for discriminating viewers, it should also be well received in the general market.”

In the book, Clara has chestnut hair and her mother is a blonde, but the looks were swapped in the film. Probably for the sake of exposition, since so much of the novel is told through Mrs. Johnson’s thoughts, an Italian tutor is added to the cast for the film. Her presence injects a few moments of humor, such as when Clara exposes her mother for saying something rude. There is also a running joke about the Johnsons being related to Van. The book is much more serious than the film.

Another way the novella is different is in regard to the father. He comes to Italy to help his wife through her perceived crisis, but in the novel he is unable to come. He works for a cigarette company which used a celebrity endorsement in their advertising, and the actor got called before HUAAC for potential communist ties. His profession is brought up when Naccarelli (Rossano Brazzi) points out that Mrs. Johnson smokes a different brand of cigarette than her husband, showing that she dares to practice independence. In the film, Mr. Johnson clearly gives his wife an ultimatum, a choice between her husband and her daughter, which gives more meaning to her choice.

The McGraw-Hill fiction award-winning, million-selling novella was later adapted to a Broadway musical which won 6 Tony awards in 2006. Elizabeth Spencer hailed from Mississippi, but she spent time in Florence writing novels, which gave authenticity to the Italian setting of Piazza. However, her firsthand experience growing up in the South made racial inequality her passion, and her 1954 novel The Voice at the Back Door was the work she was proudest of. Critics agreed; it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She was best known for Light in the Piazza, though, which bothered her.

Exhibitors considered this to be a “women’s film” and recommended targeting the same audience that loved Three Coins in the Fountain, and suggested running ads in the society pages and commercials during soap operas and game shows. It lost money for the studio, and ultimately became Arthur Freed’s last film.

I love this movie and have watched it many times. The performances are wonderful all around, and the settings provide a bit of escape into not only another country but another time when people dressed up to go out even to do the most mindless of errands. Lovers of the film will enjoy reading the book and vice versa.