Brief Encounter - Criterion Collection

Starring:Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Everley Gregg, Marjorie Mars, Margaret Barton, Wallace Bosco, Nuna Davey, Avis Scott, Sydney Bromley, Irene Handl, Alfie Bass, George V. Sheldon, Richard Thomas (IX), Edward Hodge, Dennis Harkin, Henrietta Vincent, Wilfred Babbage
Director: David Lean
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
To many, Brief Encounter may seem like a relic of more proper times--or, specifically, more properly British times--when the pressures of marital decorum and fidelity were perhaps more keenly felt. In truth, David Lean's fourth film remains a timeless study of true love (or, rather, the promise of it), and the aching desire for intimate connection that is often subdued by the obligations of marriage. And so it is that ordinary Londoners Alec (Trevor Howard), a married doctor, and contented housewife Laura (Celia Johnson) meet by chance one day in a train station, when he volunteers to remove a fleck of ash from her eye (a romantic gesture that, perhaps, inspired Robert Towne's "flaw in the iris" scene in Chinatown).

Amazon.com essential video

To many, Brief Encounter may seem like a relic of more proper times--or, specifically, more properly British times--when the pressures of marital decorum and fidelity were perhaps more keenly felt. In truth, David Lean's fourth film remains a timeless study of true love (or, rather, the promise of it), and the aching desire for intimate connection that is often subdued by the obligations of marriage. And so it is that ordinary Londoners Alec (Trevor Howard), a married doctor, and contented housewife Laura (Celia Johnson) meet by chance one day in a train station, when he volunteers to remove a fleck of ash from her eye (a romantic gesture that, perhaps, inspired Robert Towne's "flaw in the iris" scene in Chinatown).

Description

From Noël Coward's play Still Life, legendary filmmaker David Lean deftly explores the thrill, pain, and tenderness of an illicit romance in the dour, gray Britain of 1945. From a chance meeting on a train platform, a middle-aged married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) enter into a quietly passionate, ultimately doomed love affair, set to a swirling Rachmaninoff score. Criterion is proud to present Lean's award-winning masterpiece a beautifully restored digital transfer.

Customer Reviews:

The Sigh of Midnight Trains in Empty Stations.......2007-05-06

This is my favorite British film of all time. Brilliant writing, fine acting, ecconomicaly concise production and inspired direction all combine to make a landmark movie and a defining moment in social history.

Celia Johnson is terrific! She is talented and beautiful. More than girlishly pretty, she has the deep resonant beauty of a full grown woman. Her eyes are huge and so expressive, as she copes with the guilt and sordidness of an extra-marital love. She narrates to move the story along in places. Her performance draws you in and holds you. A lesser actress could not have pulled it off so well.

Trevor Howard plays her illicit love. Their screen chemistry is subtly electric. Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey provide a light sub-plot, which compliments the main story.

The film was released in the Spring of 1945, just as World War 2 was ending in Europe. Whether on purpose or not, the film announced a return to peacetime morality. The characters fall in love, but their love remains unrequited. Love is allowed, but the heart is not allowed to rule the head. The film is set in an unspecified time of peace with no blackout, no bombsites, and with cakes and chocolate freely available. There is a 'forward to the past' kind of message.

Speak to an old Brit who was there, and you will find out that all sorts went on during the war when couples were separated, and there was horrific stress. A lot more than dancing went on up on Plymouth Hoe, when people did not know if their homes would be standing from one day to the next, and they barely had enough food to keep a cat alive.

In truth, food was rationed into the '50s in Britain, and I wonder if we have ever got over the effects of that war. The film portrays a British middle-class idyl that would never return. Even the British laugh at those accents now. Nobody talks like that anymore.

If you've never seen it, you are in for a rare treat. If you haven't seen it for a while, then it is well worth revisiting. My review title is a line from a Noel Coward song. I thought it fitted since he wrote the screenplay, and the main setting is a railway station.

Wonderful.......2007-04-27

What can you say about this movie? The story is an endless tail of love found and love lost. The movie is wonderful acting from the leads to all the secondary actors. No matter how many times I've seen this movie the kicker is ALWAYS the final sceen when you find the dolt of a husband is no dolt after all and the kleenex comes out every time. You just can't lose with this movie. It's the best.

An obscure treasure.......2007-04-19

A beautiful movie in all respects. Filmed in Great Britain in the 1940s, and therefore black and white. A thoughtful, reflective presentation, from the woman's perspective, of a relationship that developed over a period of a few weeks. Deeply tender.

An adult movie without the embarrassment.......2007-01-11

The subject is temptation. The affair begins innocently enough, but escalates to something that threatens to destroy two families. The suburban housewife played perfectly by Celia Johnson does the right thing when she realizes what she was about to lose. There is passion without profanity or nudity, and in the end, everybody does the right thing. I think we could all learn from this movie.

Hilarious!.......2006-11-17

Every time this movie comes on my husband (who is English) and I watch it and laugh our heads off.If you have ever been in an English train station,drinking weak,watery cups of tea out of dirty,cracked cups.Smelling mildew and stale cigarettes while you freeze to death you would see the humor in anyone being romantically moved while sitting there.And not to be crule,but these are not exactly a couple of sex-pots.The thought of two stodgy old English people being driven wild by their passion for each other is,well------------------ hilarious! I give it 5 stars for being so darn funny.Oh--- and the music---- PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! But it is worth watching for a good laugh!

DVD:

DVD

Kiss (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Spellbound

TLC - Sold Out