Brief Encounter (1945)

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Release Date:

24 August 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Tagline:

A story of the most precious moments in woman's life!

Plot:

Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Plot Keywords:

Impossible Love | Affair | Love | Guilt | Railway

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Celia Johnson	...	Laura Jesson
Trevor Howard	...	Dr. Alec Harvey
Stanley Holloway	...	Albert Godby
Joyce Carey	...	Myrtle Bagot
Cyril Raymond	...	Fred Jesson
Everley Gregg	...	Dolly Messiter
Marjorie Mars	...	Mary Norton
Margaret Barton	...	Beryl Walters, Tea Room Assistant

Also Known As:

Noel Coward's Brief Encounter (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Spain:13 (DVD rating) | Australia:G | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #11819, Adult Audience) | Ireland:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Cineguild

Trivia:

On initial release, the film was banned by the strict censorship board in Ireland on the grounds that it portrayed an adulterer in a sympathetic light.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Laura enters the apartment, the pattern of water marks on her back changes.

Quotes:

Margaret Jesson: But my birthday's in June, and there aren't any pantomimes in June

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Goodnight Sweetheart: Grief Encounter (#6.4)" (1999)

upper-class shopping and railway travel

Noel Coward's short play Still Life was an unusual stepping off point for his full-length screenplay for Brief Encounter, which had some changes (notably in the relationship of our hero and heroine, or how far it gets) and gave Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson excellent roles in this very British mega-weepie. Rachmaninov's 2nd helps considerably, but the housewife and the doctor and their doomed romance, however improbable, manages to be both funny and touching, and Johnson in particular manages to put across the helplessness of a happily married woman who lets a new window open, just for a moment, in the realisation that it will be her only chance. David Lean's direction is atmospheric and sympathetic, and there are a number of choice smaller parts for the likes of Joyce Carey and Valentine Dyall. Perhaps the best of the Coward-Lean collaborations.