Summertime (Blu-ray)

With this sublimely bittersweet tale of romantic longing, director David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia) left behind the British soundstage to capture in radiant Technicolor the sunsplashed glory of Venice at the height of summer.

In a tour de force of fearless vulnerability, Katherine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) embodies the conflicting emotions that stir the heart of a lonely, middle-aged American tourist who is forced to confront her deep-seated insecurities when she is drawn into a seemingly impossible affair with a charming Italian shopkeeper (South Pacific’s Rossano Brazzi) amid the ancient city’s canals and piazzas.

Lean’s personal favorite among his own films, Summertime (also known as Summer Madness) is an exquisitely tender evocation of the magic and melancholy of a fleeting, not-quite-fairy-tale romance.

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on
• New interview with film historian Melanie Williams
• Interview with director David Lean from 1963
• Audio excerpts of a 1988 interview with cinematographer Jack Hildyard
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Stephanie Zacharek