Cornwall Rhapsodie

This film shows Stewart Granger's acting to great effect. Tom Wall's Yorkshire accent slipped into posh English at times but was very nice to listen to. Scenery superb and made me want to go stand on those rocks and look at that clear water.

this is the first film i saw more then 50 years ago..it was the first british film shown in montreal after the war in 1945...I would like to see this film again..but it is not showing on t.v.and they dont'have it in the video store..the music I have never forgot..a memorable film ..a great love story ..it made me a fan of stewart granger..margaret lockwood and patricia roc.

Described by the late David Shipman as 'riotous'. Both Margaret Lockwood and Stewart Granger (who makes no mention of it in his memoirs) suffer nobly in this glossy and garrulous early example of the 'disease' genre that swept the cinema in the seventies after the 'other' 'Love Story'.

One of the few Gainsborough romances in a contemporary setting, it's basically 'Last Holiday' done as a chick flick with concert pianist Lockwood pounding the ivories in as glamorous a wardrobe as wartime clothing restrictions permitted.

I have no doubt that the title of this film was changed due to the popularity of the Ryan O'Neal/Ali McGraw film of a later generation. But Love Story has certainly stood the test of time no matter what you call it.

A couple of the most beautiful women of the British cinema, Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc of the World War II era, compete for the affections of Stewart Granger. Granger and Lockwood have some secrets that they are withholding from each other. Granger is an RAF flier on leave because his eyes were injured during a bomb explosion and he is going blind. But an untried and tricky operation might save him. Lockwood had a bout of rheumatic fever which has left her with a weakened heart that won't get any better. She's a famous concert pianist who discovers she's slowly dying when she's examined after trying to enlist in the service for war work.

They meet at a seaside resort where Granger has gone back to his old trade of mining engineer looking for valuable molybdenum deposits for the war effort. In the end everybody's secrets do come out including a couple that Lockwood's rival Patrica Roc has.

Almost as much a character in the film as the players is the seaside area of Cornwall. Miles from any large city where population and war industry made it a target of the Luftwaffe, the seaside of Cornwall has never been more beautifully photographed. You'll not hear a shot or a bomb, the only explosion involved is during a key sequence in an old mine. Granger's keeping his secrets and some think he's a slacker not being in the war, but he proves he has the right stuff.

Love Story really cements Granger's star status in British cinema and at the end of the decade he's in Hollywood. Lockwood and Roc both had some American film credits but never attained the international status Granger did. Love Story on the other side of the pond ranks with films like Love Letters, Casablanca, and I'll Be Seeing You as great World War II romantic dramas.

During the dark days of 1944 this film showed hope and endurance. It is in the widest sense of the word a romantic film, but the dark undertones of personal illness and impending blindness must have struck a very realistic response in the audience of the time, wondering for how long they had to endure the hazards of war. No spoilers but Margaret Lockwood faces her problem and Stewart Granger comes to terms with his. Patricia Roc, who is equally in love with Granger, must face life as it is, and her acting is faultless. Well directed and with superb photography nothing jars, and the haunting music of ' Cornish Rhapsody ' ranks with the best of film music, and Lockwood who plays a pianist ( and supposedly ) composes it herself does it full justice. Romantic with an edge it is a landmark of good British film making. The scenes set in the Minack Theatre in Cornwall are brilliantly filmed, especially when the ' Cornish Rhapsody ' is played by Lockwood in for me her greatest role. The final dialogue must have deeply resonated with those watching back then, and in many ways still do.