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When asked what her favorite film of her own was, Vivien Leigh brushed aside her Oscar winning roles as the southern belles Scarlet O'Hara and Blanche Dubois, settling on this little-known but much loved gem, Waterloo Bridge. This may come as a surprise to many whose favorite movie is Gone With the Wind or stage actresses who study every nuance of her Blanche, once you see this movie there is no doubt that this may be her loveliest performance--while her Oscars prove that she could deliver astoundingly good work under the notoriously difficult shoots on her famous two films, Waterloo Bridge is a testament to her grace, her subtlety, and her ability to never feel sorry for herself or beg the audience for pity--and therefore earns every inch of our attention.

Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor), an aging soldier on the eve of WWII, remembers years earlier during the First World War (it's better if you ignore the obviously "modern" clothing and just enjoy the damn movie). He met and ballerina Myra Lester (Leigh), and oh boy how the fell in love (I have yet to see a sweeter or more beautifully photographed love scene than the Candlelight Club). However, just before they can find a way to get married, Roy is called unexpectedly early to the front. Myra misses a performance to say goodbye to him and is fired from the dance company. Along with her faithful best friend Kitty, Myra sinks lower and lower into poverty, and her faith is lost when she believes Roy is dead. Hopeless, she falls into prostitution (this is where Leigh is at her best--there is not a shred of self-pity in her performance when Myra becomes a "fallen woman."). How will she cover up her past when Roy shows up alive and suggests that she meet his crusty, upper-class family?

The synopsis provided above has all the inklings of a sappy, forgotten melodramatic "woman's movie" that were popular in the 1940s. So why is it so good? Because in the hands of director Mervyn LeRoy and his stars Leigh and Taylor, they make you believe in these characters, hope for them and root for them. Myra is no Scarlet in the sense that she does not whine and wait for her love to come home. Even while delivering lines like, "I loved you, I've never loved anyone else. I never shall, that's the truth Roy, I never shall," Leigh is never flashy as her Scarlet may have been--when Leigh sinks into a role, she gets lost in it. Vivien Leigh gives a spirited and beautiful performance--she proved that her handling of Gone With the Wind was not mere luck but that she was talented and here to stay. Though Robert Taylor's role is not as complex as Leigh's--remember, this is a "chick flick"--they have wonderful chemistry together, obviously comfortable with each other's presence. While most romantic movies of today are simply composed of throwing two stars together without much chemistry, this is a movie that makes you ache for the old days and the old movies full of ambiguity, wry double-entendres and, above all, a sense of hope for real love.

Do you think you'll remember Waterloo Bridge now?

NOTE: Because of some cosmic fluke, this movie isn't available on (Region 1) DVD and a VHS copy is rare, but because of some cosmic fluke, this is one of the most popular movies of all time in China, resulting in many various imports. This is a movie worth seeking out, but double-check where you buy it.

Robert Taylor's favorite movie is also rumored to be one of Vivien's favorites--although at the time she was sorry that Laurence Olivier had not been cast in it. (She was always seeking him as her screen partner!) But Taylor delivers the goods--great charm, presence and obviously respecting the fine role that he plays. Vivien Leigh is a revelation--here she is fresh from Scarlett O'Hara and able to inhabit another character's skin with ease, back in her oh-so-British mode and looking as young and beautiful as ever. It's a pleasure that two such charismatic stars are still being seen in this--their finest moments on screen in one of the greatest tear-jerkers of the '40s. Special mention should be given to Lucille Watson for the way she plays the restaurant scene with Leigh at their first meeting--the mother-in-law getting the wrong impression from Leigh's reception. All of it is romantic, tender and charming--with an Anna Karenina-like ending after a surprising twist. For fans of Taylor and Leigh, it doesn't get any getter than this.

I've often thought that if Vivien Leigh hadn't had such a rocky and depressing life (manic depression, lost love in Lawrence Olivier, miscarriages, tuberculosis) she would have found a place among Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and the like. She only made 19 films during her 30 year career, although that includes making legend as Scarlett O'Hara, and helping usher in a new era of acting by providing a pitch perfect classical foil as Blanche DuBois to Brando's smoldering and revolutionary Stanley Kowalski. But her favorite performance was that of Myra Lester in the tragic film Waterloo Bridge. Watching it it's no surprise: the film is subtly directed with a powerful story and well built characters that are an actor's dream to inhabit.

The story revolves around Myra, a ballerina turned prostitute during WWI when she believes her fiancée has died and she is plunged into poverty. The film was perfect fodder for melodrama, but rather it's a taut and realistic and uncompromising film. Direction is not overbearing and lets the film play out delicately except for several bold shots here and there which deeply accent it. Although the melodramas of the 40s are wonderful creatures, this film gained a lot by taking a rare path and going realistic.

Misfortune rules the day and is invited in after a series of near misses and miscalculations, and yet the plot doesn't feel technical or forced. Thanks to the script and performances, it all feels like the ebb and flow of the lives of these characters, pride and honesty and a slightly naive fiancée are the cause of Myra's downfall. And Leigh gives a performance on par with anything she's ever done, if not as epic as Gone With the Wind or wild as Blanche.

Leigh had a special way of handling the screen, of inhabiting her character with a certain distracted quality that made you feel as if she didn't realize there was a camera in the room or that she wasn't in fact the character she was playing. There are few actresses who could make it look as easy as she did, it seems like breathing. She was fierce and fearless, versatile; she could lose all her dignity on screen or be the living embodiment of it, and she possessed the rare quality of immediately communcating any emotion that was as tangible as anything with her face. That said, this is probably her most realistic character and her most tragic, and Leigh makes it profound and gut wrenching by being sophisticated and dignifed, and then at the right moments she takes the fall and gets ugly.

There's a brazen brilliant tracking shot where Myra, the former innocent ballerina, walks through Waterloo station in full slinky getup looking for johns, wearing a stone cold face that would intimidate O'Hara herself. It's seductive and we know she hates herself. Still, Leigh doesn't play an ounce of self pity or tragedy, she's determined to survive and get a client. In that way its very much a modern acting performance. It could be sexy, nowadays they'd try to make it sexy, but in the delicately built context of the story it's both mesmerizing and heartbreaking. And when she meets up with her not-dead-at-all love, played with sweet nobility by Robert Taylor, she tries to wipe off her lipstick when he goes to make a phone call, and the shame spills out from the screen.

The writing is very graceful (partly out of necessity to appease the almighty Production Code), at times remarkably candid and light (particularly with the earlier love scenes), and not very sentimental or stylized at all (not to say those are bad things, it's just that this film isn't). A lot of the dialogue sounds like conversation. It's romantic, but it doesn't resort to cliché or the easy way out: its tragedy is harsh and entirely unnecessary, the way it usually is in life. And Leigh's performance single handedly keeps you from forgetting Myra's story once the credits roll and you return to life in 2005. Not many actresses have that power. I only wish I could have seen what she would have done with less sorrow in her own life.

This film is one of a tiny handful which, despite repeated viewings, I would award a vote of ten out of ten. Not because it's a great cultural classic studied in hushed tones by post-graduate students (for all I know this may be so, but I've never heard of it), but because it succeeds entirely and seamlessly in what it sets out to do.

'Waterloo Bridge' is one of those rare films that never seems to strike a false note or put a foot wrong. There is not a wasted moment in the screenplay -- every shot has meaning, every scene plays its part -- and the dialogue gains its power through the lightest of touches. The single scene that brings me to tears every time is that brief, banal interview in the café, with the dreadful unknowing irony of every word Lady Margaret says.

Yet for an avowed tear-jerker, and one that centres around wartime separation and hardship, in an era where unemployment could mean literal starvation, the film contains perhaps more scenes of unalloyed happiness than any modern-day romance. The script is understated, sparkling with laughter and even at its darkest salted with black jest, while no-one can doubt the central couple's joy in each other. They themselves acknowledge, and repeatedly, the sheer implausibility of their romance: but war changes all the rules, makes people -- as Roy says -- more intensely alive. (The actor David Niven, for one, married an adored wife in wartime within days of their first meeting.)

As Myra Lester, Vivien Leigh has seldom given a more lovely or accomplished performance. There is a world of difference between her depiction of the sweet-faced innocent who is mistaken for a school-girl at the start of the film and the sullen, worn creature who saunters through Waterloo Station... and then is miraculously reborn. Myra's face is an open book, and Leigh shows us every shade of feeling. In a reversal of expectations, she is the practical, hesitant one, while Roy, older, is the impetuous dreamer; a role in which Robert Taylor is both endearing and truly convincing. I find few cinematic romances believable, but for me this lightning courtship rings utterly true in every glance or smile that passes between them, from the moment they catch sight of each other for the second time.

Virginia Field also shines as Myra's friend, the hardbitten ex-chorus-girl Kitty, while C.Aubrey Smith provides sly humour as an unexpectedly supportive Colonel-in-Chief and Lucille Watson is both stately and sympathetic as Lady Margaret. But this is really Vivien Leigh's film, with Taylor's more than able aid, and she is transcendent.

'Waterloo Bridge' has a touch of everything: laughter, tears, tension, misunderstanding, sweetness, beauty and fate. It couldn't be made in today's Hollywood without acquiring an unbearable dose of schmaltz; in the era of 'Pretty Woman' it probably couldn't be made at all. But of its kind it is perfect. The only caveat I'd make, under the circumstances a minor one, is that -- as again in 'Quentin Durward' fifteen years later -- Robert Taylor's lone American accent in the role of a supposed Scot is from time to time obtrusive.

After the tremendous acclaim Vivien Leigh received from Gone With the Wind topped off with that Oscar, there was tremendous interest in what her next project would be. After working so well with Gable in Gone With the Wind, MGM decided to team her with another of their romantic heart throbs Robert Taylor. What I don't understand is how as a newcomer to the USA, Leigh rated top billing over one of MGM's biggest box office draws. In any event Taylor must have conceded the top spot to her and would have if asked because he was always the most agreeable of contract players.

Like Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty, Taylor does not even attempt a hint of a British accent. The film opens in 1939 a few days after the second World War starts. Taylor, now a field grade officer finds himself on Waterloo Bridge in London and he starts to think back to the first World War and his lost love who he met during a Zeppelin attack on London.

That lost love was Vivien Leigh, an aspiring ballerina under the tutelage of Maria Ouspenskaya, one formidable old woman. The film is Taylor and Leigh's story. They are as romantic a pair of young lovers as has ever been seen on the silver screen.

Leigh is more fragile here, more true to her own life, than she was as the independent and forceful Scarlett O'Hara. One cannot ever imagine Scarlett making the choices that Leigh's Myra Lester makes in Waterloo Bridge.

Interesting how audiences accept Taylor as British without him even attempting an accent. The old American as Canadian gambit isn't even used to justify Taylor's presence in a British story. Shows that attractive and capable players can cover a certain amount of artistic sin.

The best decision I made for this year was to buy several videos and enjoy the old movies. Amongst the first purchases was of course "Waterloo Bridge," an unforgettable favorite. It's a tender love story that unfolds a beautiful romance shaken by the cold realities of WW1. I was reaching for kleenexes at certain intervals as it does get sad. Not only does Ms Vivien Leigh fulfil her role with feeling and charm, but to me her beauty is like an exquisite orchid, almost exotic in quality. Also, it's interesting to observe her in this next role after "Gone With the Wind." Obviously she's my favorite leading lady! Robert Taylor turns in a fine, sensitive performance, and with all that charm, what lady could resist? This is one of countless stories that could be told about the upheavals that wartime caused in people's lives. For anyone who appreciates good acting and a fine tale of romance, it's a must-see.

... and I can hardly ever say that about precode films remade in the production code era.

The original Waterloo Bridge starred Mae Clarke and was considered a pre-code, with more stark portrayal and language about the heroine's fate. Although this 1940 version was under the heavy hand of the censors, I still like it just as much as the original version. Basically we have a young woman who believes the man she loves is dead and has no way to survive but the world's oldest profession. It's not a fate she chooses, just one that she has to choose in order to eat. Yet society judges her although nobody gives her an alternative.

Everyone remembers Vivien Leigh for "Gone with the Wind", but I think that this film and "That Hamilton Woman" are truly her best performances. The romance and chemistry between her and Robert Taylor is genuine, and just adds to the tragedy of the entire film, and then there's the final scene - which I can't tell you about without spoiling it for you. Just let me say that one piece of jewelry and one line spoken in remembrance makes the film complete.

The attractive and talented leads help make up for the overtired premise. I was most impressed by the supporting cast: Lucille Watson and Virginia Field before the booze got to her.

Robert Taylor was terribly miscast as a British officer in this dated film, unconvincingly set in a World War I that looks more like 1940.

I may only be 16 but I know a good movie when I see it. The only other movie I had seen Vivian Leigh was Gone With The Wind. I love this movie! Waterloo Bridge is on my Christmas list. These two beautiful actors really bring out the story. I recommend this movie to anyone who loves Vivian Leigh and romantic stories.

Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor in the lead...that cast made many viewers in 1940 look forward to seeing them in the movie by Mervyn LeRoy based on the play by Robert E. Sherwood. They badly wanted to see Scarlett O'Hara from GONE WITH THE WIND and Armand Duval from CAMILLE, at that time their most celebrated roles. Nowadays, when we, as classic buffs, come back to such films like WATERLOO BRIDGE, it appears that this has three most significant prompts: to admire artistic performances far from computerized voices, to have a rest in classical imagination separated from the robotic world of machines, to turn into subtleness, a bit of sentimentality and romantic love separated from the automatically selfish noise of colorful vanity. Although some films of the era cannot be described in all those categories, WATERLOO BRIDGE can.

It's first of all a classical love romance of two people torn apart in the difficult times of WWI, a ballet dancer Myra (Vivien Leigh) and Lieutenant Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor). Since the action takes place in the London of the 1910s, the realities of that time are deeply rooted in Anglo Saxon elegance, calmness, public life. The Waterloo Bridge is a special place for the two: on the one hand, so significant and unforgettable; on the other hand, so tragic and nostalgic. The characters are very easy to identify with since the problems that they face are universal. War is only a background but all the feelings of fear, treason, separation, dreams, honor, desire for understanding and sincerity are every day bread for people of all times. Roy and Myra are very convincing as a pair and as a man and a woman in general. Their romance is short but very beautiful and particularly subtle. Pity we don't find many of such interpretations nowadays. The dialogs are first rate, the chemistry between Taylor and Leigh is the right one.

The performances are exceptionally fine. Vivien is beautiful and talented. She is not Scarlett O'Hara, she is even better in some moments. Robert Taylor is also magnificent as Cronin: very good looking and genuine in the role. No wonder he said once that WATERLOO BRIDGE had been his favorite film since here, he gives his finest performance. From the supporting cast, Lucile Watson is worth attention as an elderly kind hearted Lady Cronin, Roy's mum and Myra's mother-in-law to come. She wonderfully portrays someone of a very good heart and the first moment you see her, it's just obvious that you are looking at a decent person (dream to have such a mother-in-law...) Virginia Field is sweet as Kitty, Myra's friend but the performance is shadowed. The last of the cast I'd focus on is the great C. Aubrey Smith with this specific face and an aristocratic way of acting manners. He's brilliant as the Duke who at last has a chance to dance with Myra.

The direction by Mervyn LeRoy is outstanding together with cinematography and lighting. Vivien is beautifully photographed. But, finally I'd like to concentrate on a slightly different aspect that perhaps does not appeal to people today as much as it did 67 years ago but still a significant one: the movie touches the problem of people in poverty. What is there to do if a dream for any wealth or at least for slightly better financial conditions are in vain? What do people usually turn to? The director seems to be with them who are making terrible decisions in order to survive somehow. Mervyn LeRoy, having been poor himself in childhood, perfectly directs our attention on Myra, her psyche, her decisions and sorrows, her thoughts, her conscience, her exceptionally hard situation. Is it right to judge such people? What would we do in such circumstances?

But not to address the philosophical side of reflections since that is not the gist of the movie, I'd like to say something at the end. This film is very good, very worth seeking. I heartily recommend everyone to see WATERLOO BRIDGE, a movie where you will surely find something decent for yourself. Like love build bridges between people, WATERLOO BRIDGE builds bridges between generations now. It's a pure entertainment in silver screen but with a golden spirit of message! 8/10

"Waterloo Bridge" is one of my ten favorite melodramas ,in the same league as "imitation of life", "magnificent obsession" (2 versions each)or "to each his own" .

I'd always thought that "That Lady Hamilton" was Leigh's third best performance (after "GWTW" and "a streetcar named desire" )but I've got to make amends :After watching Le Roy's nugget for the third or fourth time yesterday ,I think this is one of the pearls on the crown of Mrs Leigh's too small filmography.

"Waterloo bridge" is close to perfection ,so beautiful it can grab even people who do not care much for melodramas.The cinematography is dazzling,stunning:I will only mention this scene when the two lovers arrive in Cronin's desirable mansion ,it looks like a fairy tale.

There are so many unforgettable scenes in " Waterloo bridge" it's impossible to talk about all of them:

"The Farewell Waltz ",when they snuff a candle each time the dancers go round the dance hall,is one of the most romantic scene you have ever watched.

The ball ,in the manor,where Mara looks a bit like Cinderella ,with her ugly "sisters" exchanging gossips behind her back.

The search ,in all the low dives of London town,and Roy beginning to understand ...

All the cast is incredibly good:Vivien Leigh had everything going for her: acting genius,beauty,charm;Robert Taylor is ideally cast as the young dashing officer every girl dreams of.

The supporting actresses are up to scratch too:Madame Oupenskaya we have seen in Frank Borzage' s works ("the mortal storm")is extraordinary as the ruthless ballet mistress;Virginia Fields portrays a girl who sacrifices her own life for her friend's happiness;that's what friends are for :she shows compassion and emotion;we feel for her Kitty as much as we do for Mara ,it speaks volumes about this actress's talent.Lucille Watson is equally impressive as Lady Margaret ,the aristocratic lady with a big heart.

One should not forget the use of music either: the three pieces which are heard during the movie always come at the right moment: "Auld Lang Syne" (the farewell waltz) which really belongs here ,"Swan Lake" and "Let me call you sweetheart" .

Although completely different,"Waterloo Bridge" is as strong as Le Roy's earlier works "I'm a fugitive from a chain gang" or "they won't forget" .

Mervyn LeRoy probably wasn't the right man to direct "Waterloo Bridge"; the film's producer, Sidney Franklin, would almost certainly have made a better job of it. It's a remake of the 1931 weepie about the ballet dancer who, thinking her soldier lover is dead, turns to prostitution...as you do, I suppose. Here she's played by Vivien Leigh, fresh from her success in "Gone with the Wind", but it's a bad performance; she's let down both by her material and by her director.

Robert Taylor is the soldier, (apparently he's meant to hail from Scotland though you would never guess it), and he's a little less wooden than usual while that croaking frog Maria Ouspenskaya is the ballet mistress. As was so often the case back then the great Lucille Watson walks off with the picture as Taylor's mother and Joseph Ruttenberg richly deserved the Oscar nomination he received for his black and white cinematography. Perhaps not surprisingly this 'women's picture' was a huge hit and was remade again as "Gaby" with Leslie Caron as the dancer. It's watchable and mildly entertaining but it's certainly not the classic its reputation might suggest.

This film is rare in many ways. First off everyone in America was waiting to see what was going to be Vivien Leigh's first movie after her great performance in "Gone with the Wind". And this was it. This film turned out to be her only "North American"(Hollywood type),non costume drama,non southern accent (Scarlett O'Hara/Blanche DuBois)type movie post "GWTW" while she was still in her twenties."That Hamilton Woman" (1941)was a "British" production. Factor in the fact that when asked later in life which one of her films was her personal favorite, what was her reply? Not "GWTW",not "A Streetcar Named Desire",but "Waterloo Bridge"(it was also "Robert Taylors" personal favorite).This movie gives you a little taste of what might have been if she made more "Hollywood" type movies while still in her twenties. Possibly paired up with some of Hollywood's greatest leading men "Humphrey Bogart","Cary Grant",who knows?Will never know.Highly recommended! Find it!

A superbly crafted MGM tearjerker with a lot of emotive, sensitive and tragic scenes. In London during WWI, Captain Roy Cronin , Robert Taylor , is a miltary officer from high upper family , while walking on the foggy Waterloo Bridge he meets by accident a dancer girl called Myra , Vivien Leigh. Both of them fall in love and a bit later on , they promise to get married. But after that , and before their relationship had a chance to flower, he was called away to the front, as he is listed as dead in WWI and she then suffers a deep despair.

A dramatic and sensitive film with emotion , tragedy and an extremely romantic love story. Being well based on a famous play written by Robert E Sherwood, previously adapted in 1931 by James Whale that was more explicit than this one about the heroine's plight. The interesting script has some surprising twists and tragic results . Vivien Leigh gives a wonderful acting as Myra , a good Ballet dancer who when her romance resumes , she struggles to conceal a dark and shameful secret that turned her into bad life. This is his first film since Gone with the wind, and here she is fresh, briliant, poignant and needy . While the attractive and handsome Robert Taylor is pretty good as a soldier from an aristocracy family to live a tragic romance along with a charming Ballerina . They are well accompanied by a good support cast , such as Lucille Watson as the old mother , the veteran and always sympathetic C Aubrey Smith as his uncle , Virginia Field as her friend and chorus-mate and María Ouspenskaya as a stiff governess.

It contains a moving and evocative musical score by Herbert Stothart . As well as atmospheric and adequate cinematography in Black and White by Joseph Ruttenberg. The motion picture was well directed by Mervyn LeRoy . Mervyn was a great Hollywood director who usually worked for Metro Goldwyn Mayer , and he made various Blockbusters and classic movies. As he directed important films as Little Caesar, Five star final, I am a fugitive from a chain gang, Gold diggers 1933, Tugboat Annie, Page Miss Glory, Anthony Adverse, Escape, They won't forget, Blossoms in the dust, Random harvest, Johnny Eager, Madame Curie, Mister Roberts, Without reservations, The bad seed, Toward the unknown, The devil at 4 o'clock. Being his two greatest classic and successful films : The Little Women and Quo Vadis. Rating 7/10. Better than average .

When I first started watching this film I was a little disappointed. The first half is a rather sugary piece of fluff, like the dreamiest romance novel you could ever find. But after the lovers Vivien Leigh and Robert Powell are separated the film takes an unexpectedly dark turn. This gives an edge to the movie that rescues it for me. It's otherwise well directed and photographed, too.

Surely many people will love it if for nothing more than its stars. Vivien Leigh was a talented actress but more than that she was luminescent as a movie star. I also liked Virginia Field among the other cast members.

I recently watched this film, and it is confirmed: Vivien Leigh is my favorite actress of all time. She was, IMO, one of the greatest actresses of that time period. Her performance as Myra in Waterloo Bridge goes alongside Blanche Dubois and Scarlett O'Hara as one of her greatest. You know an actress/actor is doing a great job when they can get you emotionally involved in their character's plight--you feel for them and want the best for them. Well, that's what Ms. Leigh did to me when I saw this. For the film, it was a very good love story; sad in the way war came between the two lovers and caused her to fall into despair and death, and yet bittersweet in the ending--it's sad, but in a way uplifting. This is one of those four hanky films where the women, and perhaps even the men, get misty-eyed.

It will probably take me awhile, but I'm going to try and make it my mission to review every Robert Taylor film. To comment on what a terrible, wooden actor I think he was. How I don't believe a single line of dialogue he said throughout his career (Just name the movie). He was enormously popular, but I think it had to be his looks that got him there. Sounds to me like he's RECITING his lines, not FEELING them. I feel sorry for all the talented actors who played opposite him. They sound so convincing; he sounds to me like a guy doing a cold reading. I can't stand watching him onscreen for more than a few seconds. Am I alone in this ? I wonder.