The Dryden will screen The Rose Tattoo (Daniel Mann, U.S. 1955, 117 min., 16mm).

Playwright Tennessee Williams had to wait four years to get the great Italian actress Anna Magnani where he wanted her: in the role of Serafina Delle Rose, a reclusive Italian-American widow who still carries a torch for her no-good husband. Williams originally wanted La Magnani for the 1951 stage play—in fact, he wrote the piece expressly for her—but she was too insecure about her command of the English language to perform in front of a demanding Broadway audience. She did, however, agree to the film adaptation and it was well worth the wait. La Magnani is more a force of nature than mere actor; Williams himself felt "her very figure is the meaning of sex." Her costar, Burt Lancaster, concurred, concluding that if she weren't an actress her extraordinary vitality would have made her a great criminal.

[source: George Eastman Museum website, 2016-Sep-6]