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1967 drama film by Joseph L. Anderson
| Spring Night, Summer Night | |
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Film poster |
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| Directed by | Joseph L. Anderson |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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Production |
Triskele |
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Release dates |
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Running time |
82 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Spring Night, Summer Night is a 1967 independent drama film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Joseph L. Anderson, a film professor from Ohio State University. Franklin Miller co-produced, as well as co-wrote alongside Doug Rapp. It stars Larue Hall, Ted Heimerdinger, Marjorie Johnson, John Crawford, and Hersha Parady. A sexploitation version was restructured from the film’s contents in order to recoup losses, and distributed as Miss Jessica Is Pregnant.[1]
The film has been likened to Italian neorealism.[2] In 2021, director Nicolas Winding Refn commissioned an official restoration of the original film.[3]
In an Appalachian Ohio coal mining town, siblings Jessica and Carl have a complex relationship, exacerbated when she is impregnated by him. There are doubts about whether or not they are related, and thus negating incest. When he returns to town from Columbus, Ohio and discovers this, he contemplates between taking her away or abandoning her.[4]
- Larue Hall as Jessica Royer
- Ted Heimerdinger as Carl Royer
- Marjorie Johnson as Mae Royer (as Marj Johnson)
- John Crawford as Virgil Royer
- Hersha Parady as Donna (as Betty Ann Parady)
- Tracy Smith as Chris Royer
- Mary Cass as Rose
- David Ayres as Lou
The film premiered at the Pesaro International Film Festival in Italy on May 28, 1967. It was later released in the United States on September 23, 1970.[citation needed]
Richard Brody of The New Yorker called the film a “tense, myth-drenched drama of liberation and retribution”.[5] Carson Lund of Slant Magazine stated that “Spring Night, Summer Night looks and sounds as delicate as the emotions it puts under a microscope”.[6] Lee Jutton of Film Inquiry lauded this for filming the Rust Belt in a “strangely beautiful”, poetic way, “with an undercurrent of sadness”.[7]
- ^ Wright, Brett (2020-08-17). “Spring Night, Summer Night: Putting a Lost Classic in Perspective”. Split Tooth Media. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ “Spring Night, Summer Night (1967)”. American Cinematheque. 2025-07-19. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ O’Falt, Chris (2018-10-15). “Spring Night, Summer Night: One Film’s Bizarre 50-Year Journey to Its Long-Delayed New York Film Festival Premiere”. IndieWire. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ Sorrento, Matthew (2021-05-07). “Post-War Malaise in the Rural US: Spring Night, Summer Night (1967)”. Film International. eISSNÂ 2040-3801. ISSNÂ 1651-6826. OCLCÂ 803316091. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ Brody, Richard (2018-11-15). “Spring Night, Summer Night (Review)”. The New Yorker. ISSNÂ 0028-792X. OCLCÂ 320541675. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ Lund, Carson (2020-05-31). “Review: Joseph L. Anderson’s Spring Night, Summer Night on Flicker Alley Blu-ray”. Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
- ^ Jutton, Lee (2020-06-17). “SPRING NIGHT, SUMMER NIGHT: A Rediscovered Work of American Neorealism”. Film Inquiry. Retrieved 2025-09-21.
