one summer never begins, one summer never begins (11. 206)

Featuring the acting talents of Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift and Katherine Hepburn, the cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play of the same name (screenplay by Gore Vidal), the last in a trilogy to get the treatment for the silver screen of works dealing with homosexuality, following A Streetcar Named Desire and A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, premiered on this day in 1965, as our faithful chronicler informs. Under the direction of Joseph L Mankiewicz, special dispensation was granted by the National Legion of Decency and the Motion Picture Production Code administration to depict—decidedly off-screen—the perversion of one of the main characters since it dealt with the lifestyle choice as a tragic flaw and leading to his own downfall. Reviewed by some as one of the more bizarre films to come out of Hollywood, the narrative centres around a prospective lobotomy (to hide the embarrassing truth) for the niece of a wealthy young woman after witnessing the violent and inconvenient death of her cousin whilst vacationing in Spain the previous holiday season. Her cousin uses her as bait to attract young men in desperate situations as his own conquests to much success. When planning to depart, however, the fleeing visitors are pursued by a gang of past lovers until finally her cousin is cornered only to be ripped apart and consumed. Despite somewhat similar themes of loss and transformation and coincidentally released during the same month as Williams’ death in 1983, the Motels—having never seen the movie nor the play—chose the title for its alliterative quality.