Brief Encounter (1945)

A married woman (Celia Johnson) crosses paths with a married doctor (Trevor Howard) during her visits to the city, and they begin a casual friendship. Slowly they realize that they are in love.

Here is yet another film told almost entirely in flashback. Wife Laura narrates the events inside her head. Her unsuspecting husband is the only person she can trust to tell, but the only person she can never tell.

Looking over a list of recorded films, I selected Brief Encounter on reputation, having been nominated for three Oscars and sporting an 8.0 on IMDb. But when I sat down to watch I discovered that Dr. Cyclops had been recorded. A film about a mad scientist who shrinks people! Sign me up! But I steeled myself, and watched the respectable film.

 Based on a Noel Coward play, it was an early success for directory David Lean. He would go on to direct a desert drama that I will eventually watch. Johnson hadn't done too many films at that point and would eventually star in the dreadful Holly and the Ivy. Howard played Major Calloway in The Third Man.

Brief Encounter is a pretty dull movie. A lot of conversations happen between our mostly chemistry-less leads but also between a rail employee and a cafe worker that doesn’t resolve. But it’s an unusual story and does hold your interest, more or less. But clearly it charmed other viewers much more than it did me. AMRU 3.