Brief Encounter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brief Encounter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Brief Encounter (disambiguation).
Brief Encounter
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
David Lean
Produced by
No?l Coward
Anthony Havelock-Allan
Ronald Neame
Written by
No?l Coward
Anthony Havelock-Allan
David Lean
Ronald Neame
Starring
Celia Johnson
Trevor Howard
Stanley Holloway
Joyce Carey
Cyril Raymond
Everley Gregg
Music by
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Cinematography
Robert Krasker
Editing by
Jack Harris
Distributed by
-UK-
Eagle-Lion Distributors (1945 Theatrical)
Carlton Visual Entertainment (DVD)
-USA-
Universal Pictures (1946 Theatrical)
MGM Home Entertainment (DVD)
Release date(s)
UK 26 November 1945
USA 24 August 1946
Running time
86 minutes
Country
UK
Language
English
Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film directed by David Lean about the conventions of British suburban life, centring on a housewife for whom real love (as opposed to the polite arrangement of her marriage) brings unexpectedly violent emotions. The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey. The screenplay is by No?l Coward, and is based on his 1936 one-act play Still Life. The soundtrack prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Eileen Joyce.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Adaptation of Still Life
4 Adaptations of the film
4.1 Theatre
4.2 Opera
4.3 Radio
5 Production
6 Music
7 Reception
7.1 Awards
7.2 Reception
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
[edit] Plot
Laura Jesson (Johnson), a suburban housewife in a dull but affectionate marriage, tells her story in the first person while at home with her husband, imagining that she is confessing her affair to him.
Conventional Laura, like most women of her class at that time, goes to a nearby town once a week for shopping and to the cinema for a matine. Returning from one such excursion to Milford, while waiting at the station, she is helped by another passenger to remove a piece of grit from her eye. The passenger is Alec Harvey (Howard), an idealistic doctor who also works one day a week as a consultant at the local hospital. Both are in their thirties, and each is married with two children.
Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard
Enjoying each other's company, the two arrange to meet again. They are soon troubled to find their innocent and casual relationship quickly developing into love.
For a while, they meet furtively, constantly fearing chance meetings with friends. After several meetings, they go to a room belonging to a friend and fellow doctor of Alec's, Stephen (Valentine Dyall), but they are interrupted by Stephen's unexpected return. This brings home the fact that a future together is impossible and, not wishing to hurt their families, they agree to part. Alec has been offered a job in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his brother lives.
Their final meeting is at the railway station refreshment room, which we see for the second time, now with the poignant perspective of their story. As they await a sad and final parting, Dolly Messiter, a talkative acquaintance of Laura, invites herself to join them and is soon chattering away, oblivious to the couple's inner misery.
As they realise that they have been robbed of the chance for a final goodbye, Alec's train arrives. With Dolly still chattering, Alec departs with a last look at Laura but without the passionate farewell for which they both long. After shaking Messiter's hand, he lightly squeezes Laura on the shoulder and leaves. Laura waits for a moment, anxiously hoping that Alec will walk back into the refreshment room, but he does not. As the train is heard pulling away, Laura is traumatised, and, hearing an approaching express train, suddenly dashes out on to the platform. The lights of the train flash across her face as she conquers her impulse to commit suicide. She then returns home to her family.
In the final scene of the film, which does not appear in the original Coward play, Laura's bland but kind husband Fred suddenly shows that he has noticed her distress in the past weeks, and takes her in his arms.
[edit] Cast
Celia Johnson as Laura Jesson
Trevor Howard as Dr. Alec Harvey
Stanley Holloway as Albert Godby
Joyce Carey as Myrtle Bagot
Cyril Raymond as Fred Jesson
Everley Gregg as Dolly Messiter
Marjorie Mars as Mary Norton
Margaret Barton as Beryl Walters, Tea Room Assistant
Alfie Bass as Waiter at the Royal (uncredited)
Wallace Bosco as Doctor at Bobbie's Accident (uncredited)
Sydney Bromley as Johnnie, Second Soldier (uncredited)
Valentine Dyall as Stephen Lynn, Alec's 'Friend' (uncredited)
Irene Handl as Cellist and Organist (uncredited)
[edit] Adaptation of Still Life
The film is based on No?l Coward's one-act play Still Life (1936), one of ten short plays in the cycle Tonight at 8:30, designed for Gertrude Lawrence and Coward himself to be performed in various combinations as triple bills. All scenes of Still Life are set in the refreshment room of a railway station (the fictional Milford Junction).
As is normal in films based on stage plays, the film depicts places that are only referred to in the play: Dr. Lynn's flat, Laura's home, a cinema, a restaurant and a branch of Boots the Chemists. Additionally, a number of scenes have been added which are not in the play: a scene on a lake in a rowing boat where Dr. Harvey gets his feet wet; Laura wandering alone in the dark, sitting down on a park bench and smoking in public; a drive in the country in a borrowed car.
Some scenes are made less ambiguous and more dramatic in the film. The scene in which the two lovers are about to commit adultery is toned down: in the play it is left for the audience to decide whether they actually consummate their relationship. In the film, Laura has only just arrived at Dr. Lynn's flat when the owner returns, and is immediately led out by Dr. Harvey via the fire escape. Later, when Laura wants to throw herself in front of an express train, the film makes this intention clear by means of voice-over narration.
There are two editions of Coward's original screenplay for the film adaptation, both listed in the bibliography.
[edit] Adaptations of the film
[edit] Theatre
The 2008 Kneehigh Theatre production, produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, was adapted for the stage by Emma Rice and is a mixture of the film and the stage play, with additional musical elements. It toured the UK before opening in February 2008 at the Haymarket Cinema in London, which was converted into a theatre for the play.[1][2] The 2008 London cast included Amanda Lawrence and Tamzin Griffin, with Tristan Sturrock and Naomi Frederick in the lead roles. The production ran until November 2008 and then toured the UK for 27 weeks from February to July 2009, with venues including the Oxford Playhouse, Marlowe Theatre and the Richmond Theatre and with the two leads played by Hannah Yelland and Milo Twomey. The US premiere at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, CA ran from September to October 2009 [1]. The adaptation was performed in Brooklyn, New York at St. Ann's Warehouse in December 2009 and January 2010 and at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in February - April 2010.[3]
A Roundabout Theatre Company production of the Kneehigh adaptation opened at Studio 54 in New York City on 28 September, 2010 starring Hannah Yelland, Tristan Sturrock, and other members of the London cast.[4] The limited engagement closed on 2 January, 2011, after 21 previews and 119 performances, including a four-week extension.[5]
[edit] Opera
In May 2009, Houston Grand Opera premiered a two act opera Brief Encounter based on the story, with music by Andr Previn from a libretto by John Caird.[6]
[edit] Radio
Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers rehearsing
Brief Encounter was adapted as a radio play on the 20 November, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater, starring Greer Garson. It was presented three times on The Screen Guild Theater, first on the 12 May, 1947 episode with Herbert Marshall and Lilli Palmer, again on 12 January, 1948 with Herbert Marshall and Irene Dunne and finally on 11 January, 1951 with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr. It was also adapted to Lux Radio Theater on the 29 November, 1948 episode with Van Heflin and Greer Garson and on the 14 May, 1951 episode with Olivia de Havilland and Richard Basehart.
On 30 October, 2009, as part of the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the BBC's world famous Maida Vale Studios, Jenny Seagrove and Nigel Havers starred in a special Radio 2 production of Brief Encounter, performed live from Maida Vale's studio 6 (MV6). The script used was a 1947 adaptation for radio by Maurice Horspool, which had been in the BBC's ownership and had never been used or performed since then.
[edit] Production
Much of the film version was shot at Carnforth railway station in Lancashire, then a junction on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. As well as a busy station being necessary for the plot, it was located far enough away from major cities to avoid the blackout for film purposes, shooting taking place in early 1945 before the War had finished. At two points in the film the station location is indicated by platform signs referring to local destinations including, Leeds, Bradford, Morecambe & Lancaster. No?l Coward makes the station announcements in the film. The station refreshment room was a studio recreation. Carnforth Station still retains many of the period features present at the time of filming and remains a place of pilgrimage for fans of the film.[7]. However, some of the urban scenes were shot in London or at Denham or Beaconsfield near Denham Studios where the film was made.[8]
[edit] Music
As well as Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 which recurs throughout the film, there is a scene in a tea room where a salon orchestra plays the Spanish Dance No 5 (Bolero) by Moritz Moszkowski.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards
The film shared the 1946 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1947 awards. In 1999 Brief Encounter came second in a British Film Institute poll of the top 100 British films. In 2004, the magazine Total Film named it the 44th greatest British film of all time. Derek Malcolm included the film in his 2000 column The Century of Films.
[edit] Reception
In her book No?l Coward (1987), Frances Gray says that Brief Encounter is, after the major comedies, the one work of Coward that almost everybody knows and has probably seen; it has featured frequently on television and its viewing figures are invariably high.
Its story is that of an unconsummated affair between two married people [....] Coward is keeping his lovers in check because he cannot handle the energies of a less inhibited love in a setting shorn of the wit and exotic flavour of his best comedies [....] To look at the script, shorn of David Lean's beautiful camera work, deprived of an audience who would automatically approve of the final sacrifice, is to find oneself asking awkward questions.
(p. 64-67).
Gray acknowledges a common criticism of the play: why do the characters not consummate the affair? Gray argues that their problem is class consciousness: the working classes can act in a vulgar way, and the upper class can be silly; but the middle class is or at least considers itself the moral backbone of society  a notion whose validity Coward did not really want to question or jeopardise, as the middle classes were Coward's principal audience.
However, Laura in her narration stresses that what holds her back is her horror at the thought of betraying her husband and her settled moral values, tempted though she is by the force of a love affair. Indeed, it is this very tension which has made the film such an enduring favourite.
The values which Laura precariously, but ultimately successfully, clings to were widely shared and respected (if not always observed) at the time of the film's original setting (the status of a divorced woman, for example, remained sufficiently scandalous in the UK to cause Edward VIII to abdicate in 1936). Updating the story left those values behind and with them vanished the credibility of the plot, which may be why the remake could not compete.[9]
The film is widely admired for the beauty of its black-and-white photography and the atmosphere created by the steam-age railway setting, both of which were particular to the original David Lean version.[10]
The film was a great success in the UK and such a hit in the US that Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
The film was released amid the social and cultural context of the Second World War when 'brief encounters' were thought to be commonplace and women had far greater sexual and economic freedom than previously. In British National Cinema (1997), Sarah Street argues that "Brief Encounter thus articulated a range of feelings about infidelity which invited easy identification, whether it involved one's husband, lover, children or country" (p. 55). In this context, feminist critics read the film as an attempt at stabilising relationships to return to the status quo.[citation needed] Meanwhile, in his 1993 BFI book on the film, Richard Dyer notes that owing to the rise of homosexual law reform, gay men also viewed the plight of the characters as comparable to their own social constraint in the formation and maintenance of relationships. Sean O'Connor considers the film to be an "allegorical representation of forbidden love" informed by No?l Coward's experiences as a closeted homosexual (p. 157).
The British play and film The History Boys features two of the main characters reciting a passage of the film. (The scene portrayed, with Posner playing Celia Johnson and Scripps as Cyril Raymond, is in the closing minutes of the film where Laura begins, "I really meant to do it.")
The Channel 4 British drama series Shameless has a plot based on Brief Encounter in its fifth series. Similarities include the main character, Frank Gallagher getting grit in his eye from a bus, being caught by a friend of his wife, and the tearful departure. Frank's wife, Monica even thanks Frank for coming back.
Brief Encounter also loosely inspired Mum's Army, an episode of the British comedy series Dad's Army. There is a similar final scene in a railway station.
A 1974 television remake of the film, shown in the US on the Hallmark Hall of Fame, starred Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, but was not well-received.[11]
[edit] See also
Falling in Love (1984 film)
Banbury Cakes
BFI Top 100 British films
[edit] Notes
^ Billington, Michael (18 February 2008). "Theatre Review: Brief Encounter". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/feb/18/theatre1. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
^ Cheal, David (8 February 2008). "Brief Encounter: 'I want people to laugh and cry. That's our job'". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3671045/Brief-Encounter-I-want-people-to-laugh-and-cry.-Thats-our-job.html.
^ Kneehigh Theatre tour dates
^ Noel Coward's BRIEF ENCOUNTER to Open at Studio 54 in September BroadwayWorld.com Retrieved 2010-09-12.
^ Jones, Kenneth. "Broadway's 'Brief Encounter', a Romance With Theatrical Lift, Ends Jan. 2" playbill.com, January 2, 2011
^ Houston Grand Opera performance page
^ BBC Cumbria website
^ Whitaker, Brian (comp.) (1990). Notes & Queries. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-872180-22-1.
^ Handford, Peter (1980). Sounds of Railways. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7631-4.
^ Huntley, John (1993). Railways on the Screen. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-2059-0.
^ "TV: 'Brief Encounter'; Burton and Miss Loren Portray Lovers on Hallmark Film at 8:30 on NBC," New York Times, November 12, 1974 (subscription required)
[edit] References
The Great British Films, pp 91C93, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X
Coward, No?l. Brief Encounter: Screenplay. London: Faber and Faber, 1999. ISBN 0-571-19680-2
Dyer, Richard. Brief Encounter. London: BFI, 1993. ISBN 0-85170-362-3
O'Connor, Sean. Straight Acting: Popular Gay Drama from Wilde to Rattigan. London: Cassell, 1998. ISBN 0304328669
Street, Sarah. British National Cinema. London: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-415-06736-7
[edit] External links
Brief Encounter 1945 Britmovie British movie community
Brief Encounter locations Film locations
http://www.seebriefencounter.com/ London theatre production of Brief Encounter
http://www.kneehigh.co.uk/ Kneehigh Theatre company
Brief Encounter at the Internet Movie Database
Brief Encounter at AllRovi
Brief Encounter at the British Film Institute's Screenonline. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries)
Criterion Collection essay by Adrian Turner
Alison Ireland's comparison of the film with the original Coward play
Leninimports review and detailed account of how the film was made
Detailed research into the background of the film
Britmovie  Locations: Brief Encounter
v
d
e
Films directed by David Lean
1940s
In Which We Serve (1942)
This Happy Breed (1944)
Blithe Spirit (1945)
Brief Encounter (1945)
Great Expectations (1946)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Passionate Friends (1949)
1950s
Madeleine (1950)
The Sound Barrier (1952)
Hobson's Choice (1954)
Summertime (1955)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
1960s
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
1970s
Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor (1979)
1980s
A Passage to India (1984)
v
d
e
Palme d'Or winning films C 1939C1959
Union Pacific (1939)
Iris and the Lieutenant (1946)
The Lost Weekend (1946)
The Red Meadows (1946)
Brief Encounter (1946)
Mara Candelaria (1946)
Neecha Nagar (1946)
The Turning Point (1946)
La Symphonie Pastorale (1946)
The Last Chance (1946)
Men Without Wings (1946)
Rome, Open City (1946)
The Third Man (1949)
Miss Julie (1951)
Miracle in Milan (1951)
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952)
Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Gate of Hell (1954)
Marty (1955)
The Silent World (1956)
Friendly Persuasion (1957)
The Cranes Are Flying (1958)
Black Orpheus (1959)
Complete List
(1939C1959)
(1960C1979)
(1980C1999)
(2000C2019)
v
d
e
BFI Sight & Sound Poll
1952
Bicycle Thieves
City Lights
The Gold Rush
Battleship Potemkin
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Greed
Le Jour se lve
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Brief Encounter
The Rules of the Game
Le Million
1962
Citizen Kane
L'Avventura
The Rules of the Game
Greed
Ugetsu
Battleship Potemkin
Bicycle Thieves
Ivan the Terrible
La Terra Trema
L'Atalante
1972
Citizen Kane
The Rules of the Game
Battleship Potemkin
8?
L'Avventura
Persona
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The General
The Magnificent Ambersons
Ugetsu
Wild Strawberries
1982
Citizen Kane
The Rules of the Game
Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
8?
Battleship Potemkin
L'Avventura
The Magnificent Ambersons
Vertigo
The General
The Searchers
1992
Critics'
Citizen Kane
The Rules of the Game
Tokyo Story
Vertigo
The Searchers
L'Atalante
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Pather Panchali
Battleship Potemkin
2001: A Space Odyssey
Directors'
Citizen Kane
8?
Raging Bull
La Strada
L'Atalante
The Godfather
Modern Times
Vertigo
The Godfather Part II
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Rashomon
Seven Samurai
2002
Critics'
Citizen Kane
Vertigo
The Rules of the Game
The Godfather & The Godfather Part II
Tokyo Story
2001: A Space Odyssey
Battleship Potemkin
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
8?
Singin' in the Rain
Directors'
Citizen Kane
The Godfather & The Godfather Part II
8?
Lawrence of Arabia
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Bicycle Thieves
Raging Bull
Vertigo
Rashomon
The Rules of the Game
Seven Samurai
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brief_Encounter&oldid=465305977"
Categories:
English-language films
1940s drama films
1945 films
Black-and-white films
British drama films
Films based on plays
Films directed by David Lean
Films set in England
Palme d'Or winners
Romantic drama films
Rail transport films
Films produced by No?l Coward
Hidden categories:
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from February 2007
Personal tools
Log in / create account
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
Actions
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact Wikipedia
Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
Languages
Deutsch
Espa?ol
Fran?ais
Italiano
Latina
Nederlands
ձZ
Polski
Portugus
ܧڧ
Suomi
Svenska
Trk?e
This page was last modified on 11 December 2011 at 16:40.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details.
Wikipedia? is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Contact us
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Mobile view
