Romancefest 3: Sadiefest - Come September

COME SEPTEMBER is a light hearted romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson as a wealthy industrialist who travels to Italy to visit his beautiful villa every year in September. As the movie opens, he arrives at his villa early to discover that his servant (Walter Slezak) has been running it as a hotel in his absence. Also in his absence, his long time local girlfriend (Gina Lollobrigida) has gotten engaged. Still, when he arrives, she can't resist, and leaves her fiance to join him for another vacation. Or does she?

Among the guests staying at the villa-turned-hotel is young and naive Sandra Dee and her girlfriends, who are being chased by a yellow jeep full of douche bags led by Bobby Darin. All right, I guess they're not total douche bags -- in any case, they camp out on the villa lawn hoping to hook up with the girls. Hudson and Lollobrigida find themselves becoming reluctant watch dogs and confidants of the younger set.

When I say COME SEPTEMBER is light hearted, I mean it -- there is not much going on here. Hudson tries to keep the kids from mating, Lollobrigida tries to decide between Hudson and her fiance, and Sandra Dee tries to attract Bobby Darin's attentions while remaining a respectable young lady. Nothing worth noting really happens to anyone during the course of the movie, so the characters and plot take a backseat.

What do we have left? The scenery. COME SEPTEMBER is beautifully shot in Cinemascope with vivid colors that jump off the screen, almost every scene full of breath taking Italian scenery. This makes an otherwise fluffy affair at least somewhat worth the watch as the visuals are anything but boring.

These visuals include the afore mentioned Gina Lollobrigida, a bonafide babe of the highest order. She has the standout performance as the only character who is really able to let loose, quickly bouncing from emotion to emotion in rapid fire, full volume Italian as she passionately pleas for Hudson's attentions. In a movie full of dud jokes, the best laughs come from Lollobrigida's physical performance.

Unfortunately the rest of the cast is a little boring -- Hudson doesn't have much of a character to work with (unlike his mischievous, oversexed bachelor in PILLOW TALK) and Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin don't fare much better. Darin does have a scene in which he performs the song "Multiplication," however, showcasing his stage presence which is far superior to his screen presence. Aside from Lollobrigida, Slezak is the only one who has some good stuff to work with, as at least his character is always up to some kind of scam.

Sadie says:

The behind the scenes story with this film, is that this was the movie where Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee fell in love. I mean, who wouldn't want to fall in love with the gorgeous Italian backdrop as your courting ground?

In addition, as an appreciator of vintage fashion, I have to say that Gina's wardrobe knocks it out of the park. The viewer can see that she's rocking some of the hottest Italian frocks of the time and using her bellisima body to show them off.

Rock Hudson and Gina Lollbrigida made another film called STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. If you can appreciate the ridiculous and magical nature of COME SEPTEMBER, you won't regret a viewing of STRANGE BEDFELLOWS. I don't know if there is a comparison to this genre of films these days. Paul?