User:Edierobin/Summer Children

'Summer Children' (B&W) 1965 86 min - Genre - American New Wave, Neo-Noir, Influenced buy Italian neo-realism and French New Wave, Summer Children is a story of the duality of human perception: The brightness of the sunlight of day obscures the drama that is illuminated in the shadows of night. SUMMER CHILDREN is a time capsule of 1960s California beach scene and a mindscape of the era’s free love, fashion, cars, music, dance and parties. West (Stuart Anderson), a handsome young man born to a wealthy yet absent family, finds and falls in love with the ethereal Diana (Valora Noland), the girl of his dreams. The champagne flows and so does the fun for this ensemble cast aboard a yacht crossing to Catalina. Trouble soon brews when the impulsive and charming Frankie (John Kulhanek) moves in for the conquest of Diana. West’s feelings for Diana become an obsession and his life and friendship with Frankie begin to unravel. The innocence of friendship was forever lost as the SUMMER CHILDREN become tangled in a mess of seduction, deception, passion and betrayal resulting in tragedy.

Visually intoxicating, this film is photographed in a 1960s European-style by renowned Academy Award® winning cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC.

An early work from the American New Wave movement, SUMMER CHILDREN is playful, yet apprehensive much like the culture of the ‘60s. Angst and alienation shaded their lives as the war protests were just getting underway. Neo-noir meets wild American youth film in this stylistic adventure. The luminous beauty of the actors is memorable. Several of the industry’s great artists (Vilmos Zsigmond, Leon Ericksen, Hannah Scheel, David Arkin) met or collaborated in the creation of this film, making SUMMER CHILDREN an interesting glimpse of their early careers.

Digital restoration produced by Edie Robinette-Petrachi and Executive Producer Jack Robinette. Color Timing and restoration supervised by Vilmos Zsigmond, A.S.C