Customer Reviews

Five Days One Summer [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The best part of this movie is the scenery. The Swiss Alps come beautifully alive in this moody period piece about a married middle-aged Scottish doctor having an affair with his attractive niece. Sean Connery plays the doctor and a much younger Betsy Brantley (Second Noah) is the niece. She has long fantasized about a love affair with her uncle, and in this film, she finally gets what she's wished for. .only the fantasy is definitely better than the reality.

Fantasies don't yell at you, raise their hands to strike you during an argument. Fantasies respond to your every whim. .fantasies are also ageless. Fantasies don't have wives waiting at home either.

The young niece is soon plagued by doubts and guilt, especially after she meets the mountain guide, a handsome young man who challenges her relationship with the older doctor.

This film is exciting as it builds to a tense climax and unexpected conclusion. The silence of the high mountain scenes contrast with the growing tensions and and dis-ease between the lovers. Connery and Brantley are both quite good. My only frustration is with the back-and-forth justaposition of the flashbacks from the couple's lives back in England--his with his wife, and hers flirting with him, during a visit with her relatives. Other than that, the film is enjoyable.

I would recommend this film for a rainy Saturday afternoon. Makes an ideal matinee, as you sip a mug of hot cocoa. .or something stronger!

FIVE DAYS ONE SUMMER is a beautifully realized rendition of Kay Boyle's short story, "Maiden, Maiden," a piece of literature worthy of attention. Sean Connery, in a departure role, is uncharacteristically dubdued as a Scottish doctor, having a fling with a woman twice his junior. Not only is she younger: she is his neice. They vacation in the Swiss Alps, spending their time, when not in each other's arms, mountain climbing with a handsome young Swiss guide who forms the moral voice for the immoral act being perpetrated by the two lovers. Magnificent scenery, credible acting, and a masterful screenplay make this film a must see and Kay Boyle's original story a must read.

Beautiful love story played in 1930's Switzerland between young 19-year-old and 60-year-old (Sean Connery). Antique mountaineering equipment and clothing is shown in great detail. Crux of the movie is when a 70 year old body is found in a glacier which shows the person perfectly preserved when he fell at age 20 (50 years before) the day before he was supposed to get married. To recognize the body, the villagers call the woman that was supposed to marry him. Of course, the woman, is 70 years old and looks 70 years old, but the corpse of the boyfriend looks like he's still 20. Is the relationship between Sean Connery and the 19 year old the right thing to do? END

In this much-too-little-known masterpiece, Sean Connery is a middle-aged medical professional vacationing in the Swiss Alps with his young partner (Betsy Brantley). What begins as a normal enough holiday--although there are moments of tenseness right from the beginning--soon develops into a nightmare for everyone. Only gradually (and through the mind of Brantley's character) do we learn about the true nature of their relationship, as another man is shifted between them. Death, very cold, impersonal, and matter-of-factly, enters the stage; and in the end we are left chilled, disillusioned, and with a sense of tragedy that will linger on.

***1/2 Last film directed by Fred Zinnemann. Melancholic film about the passing of time with the Swiss Alps as backdrop. Sublime metaphorical scene showing a dead young man preserved by the ice of a glacier for 40 years and his 60 years old bride. Recommended.

Swiss mountain atmospherics and deftly revealed character twists,
*** This review may contain spoilers ***


This is one of my favorite "undiscovered" movies. The Swiss mountains are rendered so perfectly that you will feel cold watching the film. This movie is constructed so as to slowly reveal character and relationships (both between people and relationships within an isolated Swiss community). The way in which the director leads one from ones initial perceptions regarding the two main characters (she's so much younger, some sadness lies between them) to the revelation of the details of their relationship is artful. I also found Lambert Wilson's portrayal of a solid Swiss man of the mountains to be excellent and the scene of the elderly widow is very powerful. The filming of the (almost) final scenes (when a figure runs across the snow but the director wont tell us who is running across the snow for the longest time) is beautifully done. Based on the short story by Kay Boyle- namely Maiden, Maiden.

This is such a great movie. When will it be released on DVD?

Five Days One Summer is one of those movies that you just have to see from beginning to end and rewatch to get the real "Jist" of the movie. The Swiss Alps had to be the best part of the film. They were just gorgeous and the plot of the film will keep you interested until the end. There is no profane language, no completely immoral scenes, and you can absolutely tell this movie was created in the early eighties. Watch this if your into love stories, soap operas, lovely scenery, and foreign accents.

I love Sean Connery and have seen many of his films. Five Days One Summer is like I have never seen him before. Great story.

This movie is Sean Connery's masterpiece,surpassing even "Untouchables".Some
of the mountain climbing scenes are worthy of a Sylvester Stallone movie.Betsy
Brantly is most adorable,both in the Alps and in the flashback scenes.There is also
an amazing side story in which the body of a young man is found entombed in
ice.Pay attention to the story of the ancient villager who identifies him.I only hope
this movie will be released on dvd before me and my vhs copy have crumbled away.


ice.pay
ice.pay atte

ome of
the mountain climbing scenes are worthy of a Sylvester stallone movie.