Come September (1961)

Hanging out at an Italian villa with Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida sounds like a painless way to kill a vacation--and Come September is a pretty painless movie, too. Rock is a millionaire who spends a month at his home on the Riviera every year, except this year he's come early and surprised his staff, who've been running the place as a paying hotel. This is one of those comedies of sexual frustration--Rock can't get alone with Gina, because the "hotel" is overrun with American teenagers (chief among them Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin, who married after meeting on the shoot). The plot is labored, and director Robert Mulligan shows little feel for farce (he would shortly hit his stride with To Kill a Mockingbird). At least the location shooting has a nice summer breeze to it, and Darin sings "Multiplication" in a nightclub, complete with hepcat moves. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

Totally Delightful

This movie is just full of stars that will never be forgotten...
I watched this movie with my mother so very many times when I was a little girl.
When I watch it now I can almost still feel her sitting next to me laughing. June 18, 2008

"I don't have to make sense! I'm Italian"

"Come September" (1961) is a light, funny, and delightfully old-fashioned romantic comedy which is as charming as the colorful dresses the girls were wearing during "Age of Innocence," a period that extended roughly from the end of World War II into the mid-1960s, and as pretty as the Italian seaside where American millionaire Robert Talbot (dashing Rock Hudson) has a luxurious villa. For six years, he's been spending his vacation there in September with his Italian girlfriend, Lisa Fellini - a stunningly beautiful and sensual Gina Lollobrigida. One year, he changed his plans and arrived in July. To Talbot's utter surprise he found out that his devoted major-domo, Maurice (Walter Slezak stole all his scenes as an employee who has his very own ideas of loyalty and devotion) , has been making nice money by turning his villa into a popular and posh hotel "La Dolce Vista" once his employer leaves for America. Lisa is tired of being a " September girl" and decides to marry another man. On the top of all, Talbot finds himself chaperoning a group of six American teenage girls vacationing in Italy, and fighting a generational war with the group of four American college boys whose hotel reservation he cancelled and who settled in a tent just outside the villa and began courting the girls. Talbot's biggest concern is Tony (Bobby Darin), the leader of the gang, a medical student who wants to seduce young and innocent blonde Sandy (Sandy Dee), the psychology major. The film is a nice way to spend two hours. Darin sings the song" Multiplication" that he had composed for the movie and I wonder if the song was one of the reasons Dee and pop idol Bobby Darin fell in love with each other in real life and were married just after the filming was over. Hudson and Lollobrigida have a nice chemistry and there is also their dance together. While watching her dance, you would wholeheartedly agree with Tony that never 206 bones that a human body includes were constructed so perfectly. To quote him further, "She is a beaut; you don't see many like that". So is the movie - they simply don't make them like that anymore. March 11, 2008

Come September

Ah! For the days when movies had a moral fiber in them. Refreshing! March 10, 2008

COME SEPTEMBER

ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVOURITES. SWEET INNOCENT ROMANCE, WITH A DOSE OF COMEDY,ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT. December 18, 2007

Summer breeze keeps coming in September

Robert Talbot (Rock Hudson) visits his beautiful villa in July instead of his regular trips that comes in September. His girlfriend Lisa Fellini (Gina Lollobrigida) has given up waiting for him and has decided to marry an Englishman named Spencer (Ronald Howard). Meanwhile other surprises are in the works, like his villa is converted into a hotel by his staff lead by his butler, Maurice Clavell (Walter Slezak), and the hotel is full of guests; mainly a group of young American women, and a chaperone named Brenda de Banzie (Margaret Allison)) with an eye for Maurice. It is hilarious to watch as the staff tries to keep that secret from Talbot, but it won't be a secret long. In the mean time Lisa breaks off the engagement and stays at Talbot's Villa. Then comes the trouble; a group of American male students arrive at the hotel on a prior reservation, but Talbot cancels the reservation. Then students camp just outside the villa, and start dating the young women who are staying as guests of the hotel. Soon these students find an "ally" in Lisa who supports their camp. Talbot gets real worried and his fatherly instincts get better of him, and he forces himself to "protect" the girls while they are on date with the boys by chaperoning them. It is hilarious to watch as the boys try to outsmart him by losing him during a date or during a picnic but to no avail.

There are some hilarious moments that include; when Lisa snubs the sisters of Spencer who come to meet her; and constant man - woman type of irritation and fights between Lisa and Talbot. The secondary plot brings together young tourists Sandy Stevens (Sandra Dee) and Tony (Bobby Darin), who sings (and wrote) "Multiplication" in a nightclub scene. Bobby Darin makes his feature debut in this movie and marry Sandra Dee ten days after the completion of the film. The movie shows some excellent shots in the Italian countryside that includes locations in Rome, Milan and Portofino, and the music is outstanding. The movie is well directed by Robert Mulligan who goes on to make his Academy award winning To Kill a Mockingbird in the following year (1962). This is the first of the two successful movies Hudson made with Lollobrigida, the success of this movie in 1961 lead to the production of Strange Bedfellows in 1965.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)
2. Strange Bedfellows
September 27, 2007

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