This is a fine double header featuring an on form Katharine Hepburn and the charming and addictive Rossano Brazzi. The former is "Jane", a middle-aged American lady who is holidaying in Venice when she encounters the latter - "Renato" - a slightly roguish but intriguing antiques dealer who gradually sets his sights on her. "Jane" is a bit of the archetypal spinster. She has always lived her life alone and feels she has few skills to deal with the attentions of her new beau. That said, she is also appreciative that Venice, and all it's beauty, needs to be shared - and "Renato" might just be the man to help her evolve as a woman. Quickly, we learn, though, that "Renato" has quite a big secret that will undoubtedly affect their relationship! Hepburn is perfect for the role - she manages to demonstrate a curiosity and a willingness to develop as a person whilst also appearing vulnerable and almost as fragile as the Murano glass she frequently admires. Brazzi has the charm and sophistication ok, but he also has an humanity and charisma to him that makes this an easy to watch love story that is enjoyably devoid of sentiment, and that - though complicated - never comes across as manipulative or sleazy. Jack Hildyard and David Lean make great use of their stars and of their venue to create a stylish and classy feature that, coupled with an original and well complementing score from Alessandro Cicognini create a story that works really quite well. I'm not so sure the title helps it much, it's a little on the flat side, but the film is a stunning to watch outing for two people who just click from the start.

My wife and I were looking for cheesy and cliched 50s love story but we struggled to get through this one.

The positives here is the photography. Beautiful shots of Venice that look even better on BluRay. But even that became tiresome at some point because how many panorama shots and building close-ups followed by Hepburn staring with dreamy eyes are really nessessary ?
The story is also not very well written. Jane Hudson comes to Venice to find something she's missing her whole live but is to afraid to dive into it. That about sums it up. In the process she's changing here opinon multiple times even within one scene. My wife was even yelling at the screen several times. At the end, after multiple back and forths, Jane leaves Venice and the man, only to be looking for him when the train leaves the station. And you can't help but feel glad for the guy that he didn't get there on time.

The whole time I had a feeling this would be the kind of movie that had critics singing praises in choir. And after reading afterwards that it was based on an acclaimed stage play and ran at Venice Festival it explained a lot. Had I had that info before I would not chosen this. Not my kind of movie.