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The Movie Page
From wiki, today's feature matinee:
Brief Encounter is a 1945 British romantic drama film, directed by David Lean, about a passionate extramarital affair in England shortly before WWII.
The protagonist is Laura, a married woman with children, whose conventional life becomes increasingly complicated following a chance meeting at a railway station with a married stranger with whom she subsequently falls in love.
The film stars Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey.
The screenplay is by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play Still Life.
The soundtrack prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with Eileen Joyce on piano.
Brief Encounter was met with wide praise from critics upon its release and is today considered to be among Lean's finest works.
In 1999, the British Film Institute voted Brief Encounter the second greatest British film of all time.
In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the twelfth best British film ever.
The voice-over throughout the film is in the form of an unspoken confession from Laura to her husband.This film / story could easily be taken from Graham Greene's life. One of the best biographies I have ever read was a three volume biography of Graham Greene by Norman Sherry, San Antonio, TX-based at the time he wrote the biography. We happened to be living in San Antonio at the time I read the biography. It was quite coincidental.
TCM is a national treasure. No additional costs to basic cable television. No commercial interruptions during the movie. The feature films are introduced by a presenter, who also provides an epilogue after the movie concludes. The "stable" of presenters has increased. There is a slight "political" bent being introduced but it's very subtle and I suppose, if one notices it, like I have, one is simply too sensitive.
Again, from wiki, the lead actress:
Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson, DBE (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She was known for her roles in the films In Which We Serve (1942), This Happy Breed (1944), Brief Encounter (1945) and The Captain's Paradise (1953).
For Brief Encounter, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
A six-time BAFTA Award nominee, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).
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