THERE ARE GOING TO BE MAJOR SPOILERS, SO READERS BEWARE...
Not only does the plot feature two (2) medically remarkable accidents, the movie is also full of characters reacting in the most unnatural, cavalier or roundabout manner. A short summary : a badly wounded British officer suffers from a severe and general amnesia. This does not keep him from falling in love with, and proposing to, a kind-hearted music hall singer. The lovers marry, without asking themselves an obvious question : does the officer already have a wife or fiancee ?
As it turns out, the officer did not have a wife or fiancee, meaning that he is now safely and legally married to one spouse (and a very charming and loving spouse at that). Time passes. The officer, by now a proud new father, suffers another trauma to the head. The concussion causes him to forget his recent past (and, by extension, his little family) but pretty much restores him to his pre-war condition. Remembering his genuine name and identity, he goes to visit his brothers and sisters - and by Jove ! there's a nice manor and a nice inheritance waiting for him ! Weirdly enough, the same thing happens. Neither the man nor his friends and relatives ask a logical question, to wit, what if the man were married ? What if the man had found (and married) a nice woman now beside herself with worry and grief ? What if he fathered a child, or even a handful of children, who are now faced with economic hardship, possibly with starvation ?
Not only do the man's friends and relatives remain silent, the same goes for the wider society. No lawyer, no general, no taxman states the obvious : that it would be wise to have a good think about matters pertaining to celibacy, marriage, and so on.
So where were we ? Oh yes, the years go by and our officer, by now a successful business tycoon and all-round benefactor, has his photograph plastered all over the newspapers. His loving wife travels to meet him - only in order to discover, with much shock and sorrow, that he does not recognize her. Not wanting to hurry or disgust him, she does not tell him about their wedding. Instead, she begins to work for him as his loyal secretary.
And if you can believe THAT : there's a Paris tower called the "Eiffel" which is about to be sold for scrap metal...
So no, I can't recommend the movie, it's implausible, overly contrived and overly sentimental. It's a pity, since both protagonists are fine, talented artists giving good performances. If you do feel like wasting some time, try and catch the music hall act, early on in the movie, where the singer, dressed in a rather fetching kilt, performs a Scottish numberrrr. It's memorably weird.
If you've ever read some of my other reviews, you may know that I'm a Belgian and that my mother language is Dutch. Now Dutch contains the word "draak", which means "dragon". However, "draak" also means "a book, play or movie showing questionable taste, for instance because the creator(s) went for cheap sentimentality, implausible twists or worn platitudes". Now here, ladies and gentlemen, we've got a dragon.
Not only does the plot feature two (2) medically remarkable accidents, the movie is also full of characters reacting in the most unnatural, cavalier or roundabout manner. A short summary : a badly wounded British officer suffers from a severe and general amnesia. This does not keep him from falling in love with, and proposing to, a kind-hearted music hall singer. The lovers marry, without asking themselves an obvious question : does the officer already have a wife or fiancee ?
As it turns out, the officer did not have a wife or fiancee, meaning that he is now safely and legally married to one spouse (and a very charming and loving spouse at that). Time passes. The officer, by now a proud new father, suffers another trauma to the head. The concussion causes him to forget his recent past (and, by extension, his little family) but pretty much restores him to his pre-war condition. Remembering his genuine name and identity, he goes to visit his brothers and sisters - and by Jove ! there's a nice manor and a nice inheritance waiting for him ! Weirdly enough, the same thing happens. Neither the man nor his friends and relatives ask a logical question, to wit, what if the man were married ? What if the man had found (and married) a nice woman now beside herself with worry and grief ? What if he fathered a child, or even a handful of children, who are now faced with economic hardship, possibly with starvation ?
Not only do the man's friends and relatives remain silent, the same goes for the wider society. No lawyer, no general, no taxman states the obvious : that it would be wise to have a good think about matters pertaining to celibacy, marriage, and so on.
So where were we ? Oh yes, the years go by and our officer, by now a successful business tycoon and all-round benefactor, has his photograph plastered all over the newspapers. His loving wife travels to meet him - only in order to discover, with much shock and sorrow, that he does not recognize her. Not wanting to hurry or disgust him, she does not tell him about their wedding. Instead, she begins to work for him as his loyal secretary.
And if you can believe THAT : there's a Paris tower called the "Eiffel" which is about to be sold for scrap metal...
So no, I can't recommend the movie, it's implausible, overly contrived and overly sentimental. It's a pity, since both protagonists are fine, talented artists giving good performances. If you do feel like wasting some time, try and catch the music hall act, early on in the movie, where the singer, dressed in a rather fetching kilt, performs a Scottish numberrrr. It's memorably weird.
If you've ever read some of my other reviews, you may know that I'm a Belgian and that my mother language is Dutch. Now Dutch contains the word "draak", which means "dragon". However, "draak" also means "a book, play or movie showing questionable taste, for instance because the creator(s) went for cheap sentimentality, implausible twists or worn platitudes". Now here, ladies and gentlemen, we've got a dragon.