The Rose Tattoo is a 1955 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play by Williams and Hal Kanter and directed by Daniel Mann, with stars Anna Magnani (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress), Burt Lancaster, Marisa Pavan and Jo Van Fleet.
The Rose Tattoo tells the story of Serafina Delle Rose, an Italian-American widow in Louisiana who has allowed herself to withdraw from the world after her husband, Rosario Delle Rose is killed by police while smuggling, and tries to force her teenage daughter to do the same.
Serafina is tortured by rumors of Rosario's affair with another woman. In the dramatic scene on the following video, Serafina confronts Father DeLeo and asks him if anyone had confessed about having an affair with Rosario. The priest insists that he cannot divulge this information, but the look on his face says it all for Serafina. She insists that her husband did not "put the horns" on her as she is mocked by her female neighbors.
Ahhhhh but wait . . . along comes Alvaro, a handsome Italian truck driver who enters her life . . . you'll have to see the movie to see what happens!
The Rose Tattoo is one of my all time favorite movies that I didn't discover until the 1980's . . . it reminds me of my family . . . dramatic italians, what can I say? The way everyone is dressed and everything about this movie makes me nostalgic for the days of my childhood.
