Brief Encounter
Directed by	David Lean
Produced by	Noel Coward Anthony Havelock-Allan Ronald Neame
Written by	Noel Coward Anthony Havelock-Allan David Lean Ronald Neame
Starring	Celia Johnson Trevor Howard Stanley Holloway Joyce Carey Cyril Raymond Everley Gregg
Music by	Sergei Rachmaninov
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)	26 November 1945 24 August 1946
Running time	86 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film about the mores of British suburban life, centering on a housewife for whom real love (as opposed to the polite arrangement of her marriage) was an unexpectedly "violent" thing. It was directed by David Lean and stars Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard. The screenplay is by Noel 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1080x1621, 360 KB)Promotional poster for the british film Brief Encounter. ... Sir David Lean KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an Academy Award-winning English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India. ... Noël Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an Academy Award winning English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904–11 January 2003) was a British film producer. ... Ronald Neame is a British film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter, and director. ... Noël Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an Academy Award winning English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Sir Anthony James Allan Havelock-Allan, 4th Baronet (28 February 1904–11 January 2003) was a British film producer. ... Ronald Neame is a British film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter, and director. ... Dame Celia Johnson (1908-1982) was an English actress, famous for her role in the 1945 film, Brief Encounter, opposite Trevor Howard. ... Trevor Howard, CBE (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English movie, stage and television actor. ... Stanley Augustus Holloway (October 1, 1890 - January 30, 1982) was an English actor and entertainer famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady. ... British actress Performed in many Noel Coward plays This article about an actor or actress is a stub. ... Cyril Raymond (1897 - 1973) was a British character actor. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, also Sergey Rachmaninov or Serge Rakhmaninov (Серге́й Васи́льевич Рахма́нинов), (April 1, 1873 – March 28, 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. ... Born 21 August 1913 Died 16 August 1981 Gifted cinematographer, whose work was strongly influenced by film noir. ... John James Jack Harris (born October 27, 1948 in St. ... Eagle-Lion Films was a British film production company owned by J. Arthur Rank. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... is the 330th day of the year (331st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... Mores are strongly held norms or customs. ... Sir David Lean KBE (March 25, 1908 – April 16, 1991) was an Academy Award-winning English film director and producer, best remembered for big-screen epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India. ... Dame Celia Johnson (1908-1982) was an English actress, famous for her role in the 1945 film, Brief Encounter, opposite Trevor Howard. ... Trevor Howard, CBE (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English movie, stage and television actor. ... Sample from a screenplay, showing dialogue and action descriptions. ... Noël Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an Academy Award winning English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In film formats, the soundtrack is the physical area of the film which records the synchronized sound. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasilevič Rakhmaninov, 1 April 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, one of the last great champions of the Romantic style of European classical music. ... Eileen Joyce (born: circa 1912 in Zeehan, Tasmania, Australia, died: 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist. ...

Plot

Laura Jesson (Johnson), a suburban housewife, tells her story in the first person whilst at home with her husband, imagining that she is confessing her affair to him. First-person narrative is a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one character, who explicitly refers to him or herself in the first person, that is, I. the narrator is a fool putting his nose into the storytelling exercise. ...

Laura ventures into the nearby town of Milford once a week for shopping and a matinée movie. Returning home from one of her weekly excursions, at the station she gets a piece of grit in her eye which is removed by another passenger, a doctor called Alec Harvey (Howard). Both are in early middle-age, married, and both have two children. The doctor is a general practitioner who also works one day a week as a consultant at the local hospital, but his passion is for preventive medicine, such as addressing the causes of respiratory illness in miners. A general practitioner (GP), family physician or family practitioner (FP) is a medical doctor who provides primary care. ...

Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard

Enjoying each another's company, the two arrange to meet again. They are soon troubled to find their innocent and casual relationship quickly developing into love. Screenshot from Brief Encounter This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Screenshot from Brief Encounter This is a screenshot of a copyrighted movie or television program. ... Dame Celia Johnson (1908-1982) was an English actress, famous for her role in the 1945 film, Brief Encounter, opposite Trevor Howard. ... Trevor Howard, CBE (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English movie, stage and television actor. ...

For a while, they meet furtively, constantly fearing chance meetings with friends. After several meetings, they go to a room belonging to a friend (Valentine Dyall) of the doctor, but they are interrupted by the friend's unexpected return. This exemplifies that a future together is impossible and, wishing not to hurt their families, they agree to part. The doctor is soon to leave for Johannesburg, South Africa. Valentine Dyall (7 May 1908–24 June 1985) was a British actor, known for many years as The Man in Black, narrator of the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear. ...

Their final meeting at the railway station refreshment room which we see for the second time with the poignant perspective of their story. As they await a sad and final parting, Dolly Messiter, a talkative friend of Laura, invites herself to join them and is soon chattering away, totally oblivious to the couple's inner misery.

As they realize 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 they both long for. As the train is heard pulling away, Laura suddenly dashes out onto the platform. The lights of a passing express train flash across her face as she conquers her impulse to commit suicide; she then returns home to her family.

In a final scene, not appearing in the original Coward play, Laura's husband Fred suddenly shows that he had not been completely oblivious to her distress in the past weeks, and saying "Thank you for coming back to me" takes her in his arms - with the film thus ending on a tribute to the institutions of marriage and duty.

The film does not mention the Second World War or any of the hardships that accompany it. While no character refers to a specific time, the fictional film within a film Laura and Alec see, Flames of Passion, which is newly released, displays a copyright date of 1938. When Laura returns home following the first (and last) scene, her daughter wishes to see a pantomime, suggesting a time in the weeks before Christmas. We can also tell that the film is set in winter because at one point a scene appears to be set at night except that people greet each other with "good afternoon". This probably means that in fact the scene was set at around four or perhaps even five in the afternoon in mid to late December, which fits very well in with the Pantomime theory. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Below is a list of films (movies) that have been made up in other films, or in literature, television, or other media. ... For other uses, see Pantomime (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Christmas (disambiguation). ...

Adaptation

The film is based on Coward's one-act play Still Life (1936), one of a group of ten short plays entitled 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). Year 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tonight at 8:30 (1936) is a unique cycle of short plays by Noel Coward, the first production of which was a bold experiment in the history of theatre. ... Gertrude Lawrence (July 4, 1898 - September 6, 1952) was an actress and musical performer popular in the 1930s and 1940s, appearing on stage in London and on Broadway, and in several films. ... Passengers bustle around the typical grand edifice of Londons Broad Street station in 1865. ...

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. This article is about the structure. ... Boots is the dominant pharmacist chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country. ...

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. A voice-over is a narration that is played on top of a video segment, usually with the audio for that segment muted or lowered. ...

There are two editions of Noel Coward's original screenplay for the film adaptation, both listed in the bibliography below.

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 London to avoid the blackout for film purposes, shooting taking place in early 1945 before the War had finished. Noel Coward makes the station announcements in the film. The station buffet 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.^[1] However, some of the urban scenes were shot in London or at Denham or Beaconsfield near Denham Studios where the film was made.^[2] Carnforth railway station is a railway station that serves the town of Carnforth in Lancashire. ... Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS1) was a British railway company. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Denham is the name of more than one place. ... Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952. ...

Music

As well as 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. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasilevič Rakhmaninov, 1 April 1873 (N.S.) or 20 March 1873 (O.S.) – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, one of the last great champions of the Romantic style of European classical music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Moritz Moszkowski (August 23, 1854 Breslau - March 4, 1925 Paris) was a German composer, pianist and teacher, of Polish descent. ...

Reception

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 2nd 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. Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Palme dOr The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ... The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival de Cannes), founded in 1939, is one of the worlds oldest, most influential and prestigious film festivals. ... Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ... Events of 2008: (EMILY) Me Lesley and MIley are going to China! This article is about the year. ... The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people from the world of UK film and television to produce the BFI 100 list of the greatest British films of the 20th century. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Total Film, published by Future Publishing, is the United Kingdoms second best-selling film magazine, after the longer-established Empire from Emap. ... Derek Malcolm (born 1939) is a British film critic and historian. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

Criticism

In her book Noël Coward (1987), Frances Gray says that Brief Encounter is,

after the major comedies, the one work of Coward that almost everybody knows of 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. A disastrous attempt in 1975 to remake the film in a more up-to-date setting, with Richard Burton and Sophia Loren as Alec and Laura, made this plain. (pp.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 jeopardize as they were Coward's principal audience. In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... For other persons named Richard Burton, see Richard Burton (disambiguation). ... Sophia Loren (born September 20, 1934) is a motion picture and stage, Academy Award-winning actress, widely considered to be the most popular Italian actress. ... Class consciousness is a category of Marxist theory, referring to the self-awareness of a social class, its capacity to act in its own rational interests, or measuring the extent to which an individual is conscious of the historical tasks their class (or class allegiance) sets for them. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Upper class is a concept in sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ...

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 although she is by the force of a love affair. Indeed, it is this very tension which has made the film such an enduring favourite and it rather misses the point to suggest that this is a weakness rather than its most important feature.

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 the King 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.^[3] Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20...

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.^[4]

Another reason for the film's continued admiration is the brilliant performances by the cast. Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey were excellent. The film was an amazing success in the UK and such a hit in the US that Celia Johnson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Dame Celia Johnson (1908-1982) was an English actress, famous for her role in the 1945 film, Brief Encounter, opposite Trevor Howard. ... Trevor Howard, CBE (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988), born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English movie, stage and television actor. ... Stanley Augustus Holloway (October 1, 1890 - January 30, 1982) was an English actor and entertainer famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady. ... British actress Performed in many Noel Coward plays This article about an actor or actress is a stub. ... Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. ...

The film was released amid the social and cultural context of the Second World War when 'brief encounters' were 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 Noel Coward's experiences as a closeted homosexual (p. 157). Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... Richard W. Dyer is an English academic specialising in cinema. ...

A made-for-TV version starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren was made in 1974, and is - as noted above - generally considered inferior. For other persons named Richard Burton, see Richard Burton (disambiguation). ... Sophia Loren (born September 20, 1934) is a motion picture and stage, Academy Award-winning actress, widely considered to be the most popular Italian actress. ...

The British play and film, The History Boys features two of the main characters reciting a passage of the film, thereby cementing the film's place in the cultural lexicon of the 21st century. (The scene portrayed, with Posner playing Celia Johnson and Scripps as Cyril Raymond, is the closing minutes of the film where character Laura begins, "I really meant to do it.") The History Boys is a six-time Tony Award winning play (and later movie) by English playwright Alan Bennett. ...

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. For other uses, see Shameless (disambiguation). ...

Theatre Adaptations

To date the most successful theatre adaptation of Brief Encounter is the acclaimed UK company Kneehigh Theatre production. It toured the UK before opening in 2008 at the Haymarket Cinema (specially coverted into a theatre for the performances), London and as of April 2008 was still open. It was adapted for the stage by Emma Rice and is a mixture of the 1946 film and the Noel Coward stage play .It stars Naomi Frederick as Laura and Tristan Sturrock as Alec and has received glowing reviews.
Kneehigh Theatre is one of the most high profile Cornish Theatre companies. ...

Full Cast
Naomi Frederick- Laura
Tamzin Griffin - Myrtle
Amanda Lawrence- Beryl
Stuart McCoughlin- Stanley
Jess Murphy- Ensemble
Adam Pleeth- The musician
Adam Randall- Bill/ The musician
Ian Ross- the musician
Tristan Sturrock- Alec
Andy Williams- Fred/Albert Adam Randall (born Adam Lewis, 1979) is an actor from the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

• The Great British Films, pp 91-93, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X
• Coward, Noel. 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

External links

• 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 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. (Locations Etc.)