Yay I've gone bronze and no tanning bed in sight!!
Thanks to everyone for your ratings and comments...
Yay I've gone bronze and no tanning bed in sight!!
Thanks to everyone for your ratings and comments.
I always try to return all ratings and if I promise an E and don't get back to you feel free to give me a poke.
Sue
Member since:30.05.2009
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BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
DIRECTED BY DAVID LEAN
REVIEW OF THE 2008 ITV DVD
INTRODUCTION
Continuing my ‘Lean Season’ reviews this latest review is about one of David Lean’s earlier films – ‘Brief Encounter’ released in 1945
The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It is at second place in the British Film Institute Top 100 films, behind only ‘The Third Man’ (1949). This was the fourth film that David Lean had directed.. As with his first three films, the story was based on a play by Noel Coward. Coward himself worked as a screenwriter and producer on the film.
My geographical claim to fame with this film is that the famous station scene with ‘that’ clock was shot at Carnforth station, Lancashire, which is about 10 miles away from where I live. I always think of this film as a British ‘Casablanca’, and like ‘Casablanca’ I think it is a film that most people think they have seen and probably haven’t.
THE STORY
There is not really a plot to this film, it is the simply story of an ill-fated romance, complicated by a middleclass obsession with shame and guilt. It is a story that is well known and it is a story that we know the ending of at the beginning of the film – the wonder is in how we get there. The film begins with a shot of a train arriving at the station;
the white smoke fills the screen in a haunting, very stunning way.
Most of the story is told as a flashback, after an opening scene that really represents the end of the story. It is Laura herself who tells the story, as though she is telling it to her husband Fred, although he never actually hears her voice-over confessions.
After her infatuation with Dr. Alec Harvey comes to an end, at their meeting place in the refreshment tearoom at the railway station, Laura Jesson reluctantly heads home to her kind and loving, but somewhat dull, husband Fred and their two children. When the children are safely in bed and Fred is engrossed in his crossword puzzle, Laura narrates in her mind her recent passionate love affair. The flashback is introduced as the Jesson’s living room slowly fades to the railway station as Laura watches from her couch.
It began by chance. Laura got a little soot in her eye as she was waiting for her train at the fictional Milford Junction Station. In the refreshment tearoom Dr. Harvey had come graciously to her rescue, removing the grit from her eye. Later, the two had briefly met on the street. They feel an attraction to one another and soon their chance encounters are giving way to planned ones.
Alec is married with two children as well. They go to the cinema together but always leave before the film has ended, preferring to spend the time simply with one another in the surrounding countryside . Thursdays become their regular day for meeting, either at the train station or outside the hospital where Alec works. They kiss passionately in the train station and on the bridge and Alec arranges for a meeting at a colleague's flat.
Throughout the next four weeks or so Laura and Alec feel guilty and ashamed but they are unable to resist their attraction to one another. Laura begs Alec for his help in ending the relationship and Alec takes that as reason enough to accept a job offer in South Africa. Their last few minutes together are spoiled when chatterbox busybody, Dolly Messiter joins them. All Alec can do in the way of a fond farewell is briefly rest his hand on Laura's shoulder.
THE CHARACTERS
Celia Johnson stole the show. Here we had no glamorous heroine - Laura looked every bit the part of an ordinary 1940’s housewife, there was no fantastic makeup or fancy clothes. Celia Johnson also has the kind of reflective voice that gave the voiceover narrative the necessary sense of longing that the character needed to show. She doesn’t have to say anything really, you can read all the emotion on her face Watching the film again recently I was enthralled by the actresses honest and subtle acting – I find that the excruciating loss she shows towards the end of the film is so real that it is virtually to hard to watch. She certainly deserved the Oscar she won for Best Actress in the film.Trevor Howard plays the ‘stiff upper lip’ English man well, as we watch the film now over 60 years since it was made the accents are at first very difficult to listen to, but I found myself soon getting accustomed to the ‘40’s speak’ . Howard makes a thoroughly credible quiet, small-town doctor and his performance throughout is very touching.
The supporting performances from Joyce Carey, Stanley Holloway, Cyril Raymond, and Everley Gregg were all excellent. Joyce Carey and Stanley Holloway adding some wonderful British humour to the film. The couple also provide a lower class contrast to the middleclass romance of the Johnson and Howard.
WHAT I THOUGHT
Re-watching this old classic on DVD reminded me how engrossing this wonderfully simple story was. I know that there are lots of ‘themes’ that can be looked at in this film, I know that it is very dated, I know that the cut glass accents can be rather annoying – but all in all the 86 minutes that it runs just fly by. I think that the film is supremely and unaffectedly English, from the steam trains, the clipped vowels, and the tortured middle class decency of the main characters. With writing from Noel Coward, direction from David Lean, incredible filmin and wonderfulacting there is also the fantastic use of Rachmaninoff's Concerto no. 2 in C minor, especially the adagio section. I can’t hear that music now without imagining Celia Johnson’s tear streaked face. The DVD features a commentary track, the original theatrical trailer, and a short restoration demonstration. The film itself has been digitally transferred from a fully restored negative, and I have to say that I was surprised at the picture quality – excellent in fact. The sound too is really good and crisp.
Format: Black & White, PAL Language English Region: Region 2 Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Number of discs: 1 Classification: PG Studio: ITV DVD DVD Release Date: 19 Feb 2001 Run Time: 107 minutes
THE CAST
Celia Johnson - Laura Jesson Trevor Howard - Dr. Alec Harvey Cyril Raymond - Fred Jesson Joyce Carey - Myrtle Bagot Stanley Holloway - Albert Godby Valentine Dyall - Stephen Lynn Everley Gregg - Dolly Messiter Margaret Barton - Beryl Walters Dennis Harkin - Stanley Marjorie Mars - Mary Norton Nuna Davey - Mrs. Rolandson George V. Sheldon - Clergyman Jack May - Boatman Edward - Hodge Bill Wilfred Babbage Policeman Henrietta Vincent - Margaret Irene Handl - Organist
IN CONCLUSION
If you have never seen this film, or watched it on a grainy video, do yourself a favour and try watching the DVD version, it is a treat!”!
Pictures of Brief Encounter (DVD)
Brief Encounter (DVD)
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward,Brief Encounteris without doubt one of ... more
the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.69 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward,Brief Encounteris without doubt one of ... more
the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their ...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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Aug 19th, 2009
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