Terminal Station (film)

Terminal Station (Italian: Stazione Termini, released in the United States as Indiscretion of an American Wife)^[2] is a 1953 romantic drama film directed and produced by Vittorio De Sica and starring Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift, and Richard Beymer (credited as "Dick Beymer") in his debut role. It tells the story of the love affair between a married American woman and an Italian intellectual. The title refers to the Roma Termini railway station in Rome, where the film takes place. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.^[3]

Terminal Station
Italian theatrical release poster
Italian	Stazione Termini
Directed by	Vittorio De Sica
Written by	Luigi Chiarini Giorgio Prosperi Truman Capote
Based on	Stazione Termini (short story) by Cesare Zavattini
Produced by	Vittorio De Sica
Starring	Jennifer Jones Montgomery Clift
Cinematography	G.R. Aldo
Edited by	Eraldo Da Roma Jean Barker
Music by	Alessandro Cicognini
Production companies	Produzione Film Vittorio De Sica Produzioni De Sica Selznick Releasing Organization
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (United States) Lux Film (Italy)[1]
Release dates	2 April 1953 (1953-04-02) (Italy) 10 May 1954 (1954-05-10) (United States)
Running time	89 minutes
Countries	Italy United States
Languages	English Italian

Terminal Station was the first Hollywood film of Italian director De Sica, as an international co-production with American mogul David O. Selznick. The collaboration was fraught with constant and severe creative differences between them that resulted in two different versions of the same film, an 89-minute Italian version and a 72-minute American recut under the alternate title Indiscretion of an American Wife. The experience was such that De Sica never worked with a Hollywood producer again, though he would make future English-language films with American actors.

Plot

The following synopsis reflects the 89-minute version.

Mary Forbes, an American housewife, has fallen in love with an Italian–American man named Giovanni Doria while visiting her sister in Rome. She arrives at his apartment door but decides not to ring the door bell. Mary hitches a ride to the train station, where she schedules a ride from Milan to Paris and telephones her young nephew Paul to arrive with her luggage. Mary next writes a telegram to Giovanni, expressing her love and pleads for his forgiveness. Mary boards a train compartment but before the train leaves the station, Mary sees Giovanni. He had learned about Mary's departure from her sister after not hearing from her. Their conversation is interrupted by Paul, who has arrived with Mary's luggage. As the train rides away, Mary decides to stay with Giovanni.

Inside the terminal, they converse inside a restaurant where Giovanni reminds Mary she had told him yesterday that she loved him. Mary however felt conflicted as she is married to her husband Howard and has a young daughter, Catherine. Regardless, Giovanni has accepted a professor job at the University of Pisa and fancies living with Mary and Catherine along the Marina di Pisa. Giovanni invites Mary to his apartment, and as they leave the terminal, she sees Paul. Because of her unexpected reunion with her nephew, Mary expresses doubt about continuing their affair. Angered by Mary's indecision, Giovanni slaps her and leaves the station.

Paul and Mary wait for the next train to Paris, and inside the third class, they are seated next to an Italian woman who has gone into labor. Mary helps the woman to a doctor and has Paul watch her three children for her. Meanwhile, Giovanni returns to the station to search for Mary. Before long, Mary instructs Paul to return home, with a promise to have him visit her for Christmas. As Paul leaves the station, Giovanni sees him and asks him where Mary is. Paul refuses to answer Giovanni, who then runs back to the train station. He locates Mary and runs across the tracks, narrowly avoiding being hit by an incoming train.

Mary and Giovanni arrive at a train compartment where they embrace each other. Moments later, they are arrested by the police for public lovemaking and escorted to a nearby police station. As they wait for the police commissioner, Giovanni confronts an officer since Mary will miss her train. An overhead announcer also calls for Mary to reclaim her luggage. When the commissioner arrives, he states their actions require a trial but instead he drops the charges since Mary is a married woman with a child. Giovanni escorts Mary to the station where she reclaims her luggage. Before the train leaves, they bid their final farewells. As Mary's train leaves, Giovanni exits the terminal.

Cast

• Jennifer Jones as Mary Forbes
• Montgomery Clift as Giovanni Doria
• Richard Beymer as Paul Stevens
• Gino Cervi as the Commissario
• Memmo Carotenuto as Signor Venturini
• Paolo Stoppa as the traveling salesman
• Oscar Blando as the 1st train driver
• Nando Bruno as the 2nd train driver
• Enrico Glori as the Brigadier
• Enrico Viarisio as the post office clerk
• Maria-Pia Casilio as the Abruzzan bride
• Gigi Reder as the Abruzzan groom
• Clelia Matania as the mother with children
• Giuseppe Porelli as Gentleman on Train
• Liliana Gerace as the pregnant Sicilian woman
• Roberto Rai as the brakeman
• Attilio Torelli as the migrant
• Mariolina Bovo as the girl on the train
• Amina Pirani Maggi as the telegram mother
• Charles Fernley Fawcett as the sad man at the post office
• Mimmo Poli as the fat man

^[4]

Production

The film is based on the story Stazione Termini by Cesare Zavattini. Truman Capote was credited with writing the entire screenplay, but later claimed to have written only two scenes.^[5] The film was an international co-production between De Sica's own company and the Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, who commissioned it as a vehicle for his wife, Jennifer Jones. The production of the film was troubled from the very beginning. Carson McCullers was originally chosen to write the screenplay, but Selznick fired her and replaced her with a series of writers, including Paul Gallico, Alberto Moravia and Capote.^[5] Disagreements ensued between De Sica and Selznick, and during production, Selznick would write 40- and 50-page letters to his director every day, although De Sica knew no English. After agreeing to everything, De Sica has said, he simply did things his way.^[5]

Montgomery Clift sided with De Sica in his disputes with Selznick, claiming that Selznick wanted the movie to look like a slick little love story, while De Sica wanted to depict a ruined romance. "Love relationships are ludicrous, painful, and gigantically disappointing. This couple loves each other but they become unconnected."^[6]

During filming, Jones was distracted and saddened by the recent death of her former husband, actor Robert Walker, and badly missed her two sons, who were at school in Switzerland.^[7] She had been married to Selznick less than two years at that point, and they were having difficulties in the marriage.

The original 1953 Italian release of the film ran 89 minutes, but it was later re-edited by Selznick down to 64 minutes. This was too short to qualify it as a feature film, so Selznick hired singer Patti Page, and filmed her singing two Italian-themed songs on a soundstage with James Wong Howe and attached this unrelated "overture" footage to the beginning of the film, before the credits, giving it a technical running time of 72 minutes.^[8] He also added additional close-ups and insert shots of Jones and Clift, directed by Oswald Morris. Selznick released this version in the United States as Indiscretion of an American Wife^[9] (and as Indiscretion in the UK).

Reception

Clift declared that he hated the picture and denounced it as "a big fat failure."^[7] Critics of the day agreed, giving it universally bad reviews.^[5] The Buffalo Evening News reviewer thought the production “beautifully photographed and technically tip top,” but was less happy with the plot and its unfolding: “Mr. Clift….shows distinct signs, unintentional of course, of wishing the train for Milan and Paris would pull out with Jennifer Jones and release him from the picture. There is much interest…in perusing the station populace….but a station is a poor field d’amour, as many a sailor knows….There is irony in the ogling they receive under arrest but the obvious lady’s obvious innocence allows no great tension as to the outcome. One is really more worried about the fate of Miss Jones’ fur coat, entrusted to a porter.”^[10] The two versions have been released together on DVD by The Criterion Collection. A 1998 remake of the film was made for television under the title Indiscretion of an American Wife.

Accolades

• Nomination for the Grand Prix of 1953 International Film Festival in Cannes (Vittorio De Sica).
• Nomination for the 1955 Academy Award for Best Costume Design in black and white (Christian Dior).