Iconic playwright Tennessee Williams (A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) often wove queer themes into his most famous works…and those themes were famously obscured in the plays’ Hollywood adaptations due to the Hays Code. In the case of SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER, however, queerness is acknowledged in perhaps the most direct fashion as possible for the era. Though the story’s queer specter Sebastian Venable is never seen on screen, his presence is felt within the turmoil between his mother Violet (Katharine Hepburn) and cousin Catherine Holly (Elizabeth Taylor). Violet has had Catherine committed, and is advocating for her to be lobotomized by young surgeon John Cukrowicz (gay Hollywood legend Montgomery Clift) in a veiled attempt to keep their past with Sebastian a secret. Though the lurid details of what occurred among the three of them prior to Sebastian’s death retain an air of mystery, Catherine’s simple explanation speaks volumes: “We procured for him!”. The film only received the necessary permissions from censors due to the view that it showed the evils of homosexuality, but queer fans will revel in the melodrama and the towering performances from Hepburn and Taylor, both of whom received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress.