User Reviews

There's not much information available about this film, but it appears to have been shot in English by Jules Dassin, who had directed Melina Mercouri in the international hit, Never On Sunday, and had gone on to make the equally popular Topkapi. This film is a decidedly smaller and artier affair, based as it is on a Marguerite Duras novel. The look of the film is distinctly 60s, and Romy Schneider never looked more beautiful. Mercouri is excellent as an alcoholic who has fallen out of love with her husband (Peter Finch) and tries to find solace by helping a murderer escape from the Spanish police. Much of the action of the film goes unexplained. There is some truly remarkable photography by Gabor Pogany, an otherwise unheralded Hungarian cinematographer who plied his trade in the Italian film industry of the 50s and 60s to little acclaim. His work here is quite revelatory, at times bringing to mind the German expressionism of the teens and twenties. Overall, an abstract delight not a million miles away from Antonioni's Blow-Up.

Melina Mercouri was absolutely delightful in Never on a Sunday. Then I saw Phaedra and she worked my last nerve. It wasn't her fault. It was a terrible script and badly miscast. It did have high camp value. The love scenes were so bad they decided it best to film through fogged up Windows.

I started watching this film and Mercouri started to bug again. This time it really wasn't her fault. She plays an unhinged dypso. Melina has to carry the entire film. Finch and Schneider do nothing but have extremely dull love scenes. The child's voice is badly ovetdubbed. The kid sounds like a cartoon character.

The filming locations, sets and ambiance of the film are beautiful. The script and acting stink to high heaven.

I would say it is a typical movie of its time showing a rift in a marriage while the couple travel in a strange country (see the Italian movies of the early sixties). Romy Schneider looks radiant, this is a couple of years before her breakthrough as a French movie star in the Seventies. The movie is in b/w and colour.

I just saw this film (at LACMA) after having seen it when it first came out. Wow! I didn't remember it that way at all! I guess when you're 19 this kind of stuff seems hot stuff, or very very deep. Now that I'm 56, I think it's just kind of pretentious but full of wonderful acting, nice cinematography and lighting, and very pretty actors! Romy Schneider looks beautiful in this, yes. But I have seen her looking even better (mostly in French films). She did, though, have some very early-50s kind of makeup, which was perplexing, considering this was '66. Melina, unbelievably, looks very contemporary; she could have just stepped out onto Rodeo Drive in 2004. I had forgotten how STRIKING her looks are. And her emoting is, well, breath-taking. Peter Finch looked so slender and drop-dead elegant. His face took MY breath away. God, what a face! (No wonder everyone supposedly from Vivian Leigh to Danny Kaye fell in love with him!) Note: Topkapi came before this film, not after. As to the plot, maybe I'm just dense, but I didn't really see the point. I just wanted to be a part of the party! Altho' Melina played, supposedly, a horrible drunkard, I felt she acted like a reasoned lady at all times and don't see what the husband and the lover were "tsch tsch"ing about. She seemed to keep it together pretty darned well for a supposed alcoholic. The whole bit about the murderer was just a turn-off to me, and I thought it kind of spoiled the fun (some of you smarties will say, Duh, that was the POINT!), but I didn't WANT the fun to stop! In sum, pretty people in exotic locales. Lots of this film was very engrossing. The actors are everything here.

An interesting film that still looks good after almost half a century. It's the kind of adult entertainment that demands thinking on the part of the audience. The story is the usual Marguerite Duras bubbameister masquerading as an incisive analysis of a troubled marriage. The film runs only 85 minutes; any longer and it would wear out its welcome. Beautifully photographed in a small Spanish town and countryside, with some exciting glimpses of Madrid toward the end, it's a triumph of visual style. The three principal actors (Melina Mercouri, Peter Finch, Romy Schneider) all look great, especially Mercouri, who at 45 never looked better. Husband director Jules Dassin here captured her at her peak. Peter Finch for a time just about cornered the market on these adult dramas ("The Pumpkin Eater," "In the Cool of the Day," "I Thank a Fool," "Sunday Bloody Sunday"). Plus, this trio can act, which makes all the pointless posturing and dialog seem more important than it is. I particularly like the enigmatic ending (shades of Antonioni's "L'Avventura"). "10:30 PM Summer" has enough merits to warrant seeking out this seldom-seen curiosity.

Vacationing in Spain with her daughter, her husband and her best friend (who also happens to be her husband's mistress), a middle aged woman becomes obsessed with a young murderer evading police capture in this bizarre but endlessly fascinating drama, written and directed by Jules Dassin from a Marguerite Duras novel. The best element that the film has in its favour is atmosphere. With rolling blackouts, violently stormy weather, eerie ancient-looking locations and a mysterious figure roaming from rooftop to the rooftop, there is a constant apocalyptic air to the tale and Romy Schneider's mistress character even comments at one point "it's the end of the world". The rooftop figure is the murderer - a scared, lonely soul that the jilted protagonist, played by Melina Mercouri, finds solace in. Fully aware of her husband's secret affair, she is able to sympathise with the murderer's motives as he reportedly shot dead his wife after finding her naked in the clutches of another man. In a refreshingly unexpected turn, the two cheated-on individuals do not fall passionately in love. In fact, on the contrary, he hardly utters a word and looks simply exhausted most of the time with an unspoken bond instead developing nicely between the pair. The film also benefits from lots of innovative camera-work with point-of-view shots cleverly used as Mercouri helps him get out of town, and some shots that gloriously sweep over her husband and daughter as they soundly sleep while she goes about her business. The movie ends on a bit of a baffling note and given its descent into obscurity over the years, '10:30 p.m. Summer' is clearly not a film for all tastes, but for those who like their movies daringly different, there is a lot to like here.

Melina Mercouri plays the unhappily married wife of a cheating Englishman who, while cooped up in an overbooked hotel in a Spanish village with her husband, their child and the husband's mistress, spies someone hiding on a rooftop--the man all the police are searching for, one who has committed double murder, a crime of passion. Adaptation of Marguerite Duras' novel "Dix heures et demie du soir en été" ("Ten-Thirty on a Summer Night"), by Duras and director-producer Jules Dassin, is full of tangled emotions, conflicted desires, crazy behavior (with Mercouri as the jilted wife, how could you not have crazy behavior?). Dassin has movie-making fever, and he pulls a few visual surprises (including a startling point-of-view shot as Melina walks through the crowded hotel at night). Still, these people and their romantic predicament fail to be very interesting. Far more successful is Mercouri's maternal feelings for the murderer--not a major part of the plot, but the moment in the movie when the emotions on-screen really take hold. The haunting finale is memorable as well. **1/2 from ****

A sexually frustrated Maria (Mercouri) is traveling through Spain with her husband and a younger woman Claire. Maria's husband is carrying on with Claire and Maria an alcoholic is sexual with every man who chances her way including a murderer in the town they are stuck in.

The murderer had committed a crime of passion with which perhaps Maria (Mercouri) identifies. She helps the murderer get out of town and falls in love with him in the process although they are together for perhaps a half hour and exchange three words...

This film is arty erotic the final flamenco dance looks like a surrogate drugged out orgasm involving all the actors and extras.

60s middle age sexual sequence....lots of these made= Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf... Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone.... etc etc... this one was briefer with less story to it.

I only watched it to see Mercouri (did any actress have a deeper voice?)

Trust me this thing is boring.

I remember when this film opened in London in 1967. It opened simultaneously with 'Accident' by Joe Losey, and 'Accident' eclipsed this one, as they were considered too similar: mysterious, conveying ineffable unspoken currents between people, a pervasive air of unreality and aetherial suggestiveness of things that could not quite be seen. Of the two, this was the more difficult to describe and comprehend. So 'Accident' ran for a long time, while this closed in a week. It is only now that this neglected masterpiece, doubtless buried for decades because it was 'a commercial failure', has reappeared and I have been able to see it again. The colour has not faded and is as fresh as when it was first released. Jules Dassin surpassed himself with this masterpiece. It is his greatest work. Of course, it all relies heavily upon the genius of his wife, Melina Mercouri. It is the most subtle and understated, and hence probably the most powerful, of all her overwhelmingly brilliant performances. Mercouri was more than just a genius, she was a demented and Dionysiac genius, a genuine Greek maenad, a barefoot raver on the heights of Parnassus, in the best traditions of her culture. She is here well matched by Peter Finch at the top of his form, two years after he did 'The Pumpkin Eater' and 'Girl with Green Eyes', in both of which he had proved he was one of the leading film actors of his generation. Now in this intense film together, they speak the unspoken thoughts of a highly complex marriage and of emotional ties where two people have grown together at the root: but will the root snap? The beautiful and alluring Romy Schneider is part of a strange trio on a journey in Spain, where passion crackles in the air, and the flamenco hands clap, as a murderer aged only 19 comes into the story. I read the original novella by Marguerite Duras and thought it was poorly written and, although evocative, far from being a superior work. But it provided the atmosphere Dassin and Mercouri were looking for, a hothouse of semi-articulate and complex emotions, of raging currents of suppressed passions, a crisis of existential doubts, a veritable torrent or electrical storm, to match the real storm which lashes the stranded travellers in the film. Rarely has the invisible been filmed so successfully. This film was not really filmed in Spain, it was filmed in the ionosphere, and what appear to be buildings and people are really plasmas of charged particles. Dassin rose above reality, to film what lies behind it. These things are sometimes thought and felt, they are never seen. But here he reveals them to the eye, like a cloud parting. This is not mere cinema, it is something higher.

There was only one reason why I watched "10:30 PM Summer"--because it was directed by Jules Dassin. Dassin might just be among the most underrated directors of all time--with some amazing classics and hidden gems among his many films. Some of them are pretty famous (such as "Rafifi") but many others are just great films that somehow slipped through the cracks (such as "Thieves Highway" and "Brute Force"). Is "10:30 PM Summer" one of these hidden gems? It certainly is not considered a classic.

I noticed on IMDb that the reviews for this film were all over the place and very inconsistent. One declared that the Melina Mercouri was 'the worst actress ever' while another thought she was 'magnificent' and one of the only good things about the film! And, scores ranged from 3 stars to 10! This film boasts a strange international cast with a Brit (Peter Finch), German (Romy Schneider) and Greek (Melina Mercouri) in the leads. The story is set Spain! It's a tale about a bizarre three-some--with a husband and wife and the husband's lover all on some sort of road trip. During the course of the trip, they wander into a town where a double murder just occurred--as a jealous husband shot his wife and her lover. This causes Mercouri's character to further lament her life and she spends most of the film drinking and talking and brooding. This is THE problem with the film. It is VERY talky and has very little in the way of plot. As a result, it felt very dull to me...very dull indeed. A rather lifeless and talky mess--a rare case where Dassin had a misfire.

Unfortunately, this is one of the most underrated films in movie history. As a matter of fact, it's almost forgotten nowadays, because it was a flop when it came out in 1966.

Jules Dassin's fourth film with his wife, Melina Mercouri, is a slow-moving, poetic love triangle: Maria and Paul, a couple in their forties, travel through Spain with a mutual friend, Claire (played by Romy Schneider), and their daughter. On their way to Madrid, they come through a village where a man has just shot both his wife and her lover. Maria, who has realized that her relationship with Paul has changed, wants to help the murderer...

One of the most surprising twists in the plot is the lesbian relationship between Maria and Claire. Maria wants to catch Claire in Paul's arms, and in a delirious state of mind she dreams about it. The scene in the shower with Mercouri and Schneider is pretty unexpected, though.

The cinematography is just stunning, Mercouri's acting is divine, and Romy Schneider was never as pretty as in Dassin's drama. It's hard to find, but it is a must-see movie!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not unsympathetic against Mercouri, who, in private life, may be or may have been a most charming person. What I want to say is: If that lady isn't hamming it up and acting beyond all tops, then there is no such acting! I'm afraid that lady must have been a hysteric when not drunk in real life, which comes across pretty obvious here. Nice colours throughout the film. Nothing wrong with the framework, in other words. But what is it framing? Maybe just everything was so much more innocent before. Happier times come to life in which we were still learning and everything was still becoming better for the poor and for me this film is therefore worth so much more. Otherwise, it's a bore, if it weren't for the beautiful pictures.

A married couple and younger woman on holiday find themselves in a small Spanish town while the police are hunting for a man who has killed his wife and her lover. The alcoholic wife finds and seeks to rescue the hunted man.

This is a strange and largely forgotten movie, the kind of thing only really made in the late-60's and parts of the seventies, all about repressed, chainsmoking alcoholic couples waging psychological war upon each other in not very believable or relatable ways. All the relationship stuff in this one is pretentious and boring, but everything relating to the murderer is riveting. If you could edit out everything but those parts, you'd probably have a very good short film. The recurring images of rags and blankets flapping in the wind, reminding us of the fugitive on the roof in the rain are very powerful and haunting.

On the downside, Melina Mercouri is mostly just an annoying, mumbling drunk and although Romy Schneider and Peter Finch look good, there's not enough of a script for them to do or say anything at all memorable. The little girl playing the couple's daughter is noticeably grating, and every scene she is in would have been better without her. The ending frustrates and peters away into an entirely unsatisfying nothing, and there's very little to take away except for those previously mentioned haunting moments and some handsome cinematography.

5 1/2.

One of the best films ever seen.was 18 years old when i saw it , and absolutely marked my life.Melina Mercury, was amazing , Rommy Scneider as well. Dassin , proved to be a master in directing his wife, i still remember "never on Sunday " and Stella(directed by Kakoyannis).Just for these 3 films , i consider Melina , to be one of the greatest actresses, together with Bette Davis.I cannot forget the scene , while Melina was watching Finney and Schneider making love and the expression in Melinas face. Also Peter Finch was impressive in that film . Unfortunately, since the time i saw it , i was not able to find it or see it again,if you have any ideas , please let me know

Not surprising that the film was initially planned to be directed by Joseph Losey; like Losey's "Accident" or "Secret Ceremony", "10:30PM in the Summer" is full of desperate people struggling with the impossibility of love and the depths of existential pain. There's a love triangle, illicit desires, irrational self-destructive actions, excessive drinking, dark soliloquies. What Losey didn't have, though, is the extraordinary performance of Melina Mercouri...my god she's fantastic. She owns the movie completely. Her character is strong, confident, and filled with unendurable pain. Typically, "women in trouble" are portrayed as weak, helpless, victims. Mercouri is no one's fool; she sees and feels everything, and has no illusions about anyone. It's a very special performance. Where are all the strong and self-determined middle-aged women in cinema? Well, there's Geena Rowlands in Cassavettes' films ....but Melina Mercouri here might be the one to beat.

Take one small group of travelers with uneasy dynamics between them, add one fugitive murderer with whom they all have a fascination (one in particular), and the stage is set for a delightful movie. The first act is mostly so unbothered about its exposition that I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but once the plot takes its next step, the value comes into clear focus. All the while, Melina Mercouri in particular gives a terrific performance of personality and nuance as troubled Maria, and it's a joy to watch her, nevermind Peter Finch and Romy Schneider. Jules Dassin's direction and Gábor Pogány's cinematography are both dynamic and enticing, along with some fabulous use of lighting. Factor in Cristóbal Halffter's soft, rich score to accompany Sassin's very specific, artistically minded shot composition, and his adapted screenplay, and the result is fantastic, and ultimately even a little haunting. While '10:30 P. M. summer' won't appeal to all viewers given its broadly subdued tone, the tableau presenting before us is outstanding in its craft and the simmering tension it carries, and well worth exploring if one has the chance.

Every aspect of the writing bubbles over with fabulous, taut strain in the juxtaposition of the killer's story with the difficult balance between Maria, Paul, and Claire. Each character is primed to explode in one way or another, and heading into the third act especially, from one moment to the next it's impossible to tell who it might be. That sense of uncertain pending disaster is ultimately the greatest gift '10:30 P. M.' has to offer, not least as the feature concludes with such a (proverbially) fiery climax and abrupt ending. In a few different ways this wasn't the movie I was anticipating, but for that matter, I think it's even better. The filming locations are gorgeous, the production design is superb, and all involved put in fine work to make this drama as absorbing and charged as it could be. Sassin demonstrates a certain brilliance as both writer and director that's gratifying, and cast and crew alike, including editor Roger Dwyre, are to be commended for making this as engaging and indeed compelling as it is. It may not be a total must-see, but I'm altogether pleased at just how unexpected, excellent, and altogether satisfying this is. If you have the chance to watch '10:30 P. M. summer,' this is well worth 90 minutes of one's time.