Movie Matinee: The Rose Tattoo

The Rose Tattoo is a 1955 American film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play of the same name staring Italian actress Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster. Williams originally wrote the play for Italian Anna Magnani to play on Broadway in 1951, but she declined the offer because of her difficulty with the English language at the time. By the time of this film adaptation, she was ready.

Anna Magnani won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance, and the film won Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography.

The story centers on Serafina, a widowed Sicilian woman living in the American South who is left devastated by the death of her husband. Grief turns her into a recluse; however, she is drawn back into the world when she learns of her late husband's infidelities. Meanwhile, the arrival of a new lodger, handsome truck driver Alvaro, offers hope of a new love in her life.