Brief Encounter

29 years after the first film version of Brief Encounter was made and made stars of Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson this television version with Richard Burton and Sophia Loren was done for British television. My same criticism stands, I would love to have seen Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence do Coward's original one act play for the screen.

Both versions are considerably expanded from Coward's stage play. But the 1945 version had a real sense of urgency about it. It was set in wartime where such things if not approved of, at least expected and somewhat tolerated. Updating the play was a mistake, both Loren and Burton in this setting treat their situation as more of an inconvenience.

Of course bringing it back to 1945 would have been impossible because British soldiers just did not bring back brides from the recent enemy's country and no way could Sophia Loren have played the part. And she had to because her husband Carlo Ponti was the producer.

This Brief Encounter is all right, but if you don't encounter it you won't miss all that much.

Remakes (and sequels) have been a staple of Cinema from the beginning of the media. It is pretty much a hit or miss venture though. If you take what's good of the original and build upon it and update key features too current standards, you can have a success. Note, such films like THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924/1940) or KING KONG (1933/2005) succeeded in their attempts. Others like KING KONG (1976) fail, miserably.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) is the template for this film. It is as perfect as could be made on such a subject and we rate it IMDb**********Ten. The story is simple, Love, innocently found by accident and tragically lost. Why, it just happened for the two (2) principals involved at the wrong time. These are portrayed in a convincing and sensitive manner by TREVOR HOWARD and CECILIA JOHNSON. Neither are conventionally leading Star material, but quality Character Actors. For the details watch the film.

Now what went wrong? A T.V. Movie, remade practically scene for scene with name actors RICHARD BURTON and SOPHIA LOREN should have at least scored IMDb******Six. Both actors though appear disinterested, just showing up to punch their time-clocks and pick up their checks. Neither are involved with their characters or with each other. You do not believe they are in Love or when they finally separate it is any great loss to either of them. That should not be and that's why it fails in its intent. Sometimes it is just better to leave things alone.

Not because it's so bad, as many reviewers would have you believe. We should not compare with David Lean's masterpiece. That was a romance. It sweeps us along with period charm, superb cinematography and Rachmaninov's gushing music. This is altogether different. We are disturbed and embarrassed because that's what the "sordid affair" is! We just want the two "lovers" to stop and we hate Dr. Harvey for his selfishness. The goings on of ordinary life - the excellent soundtrack conveys this - is a jarring accompaniment and distraction. We just want the pair to blend back into it and return to their day jobs and, in the case of Anna/Laura, her family. I was glad when it was all over. Good job!

Richard Burton is not Trevor Howard, and Sophia Loren is not Celia Johnson, and although they were two of the world's leading actors, they fall flat to the David Lean version 29 years earlier. The differences are interesting to observe. The David Lean film consists mostly of flashbacks, but there is no flashback at all here. Also there is no Rachmaninov's second piano concerto, but instead there is a very good music score by Cyril Ornadel, which saves the film, together with all the domestic natural scenes of Winchester and its countryside. John le Mesurier plays the part of the friend who drags an ideal love affair to a more banal level of "sordid squalidness", which ultimately shatters the love story. Dolly enters in the last moment to complete the destruction, but in the end we are left hanging, as doctor Harvey here has a wife, who is quite beautiful, and we can't guess the rest. What we miss most of all in this film is the very gentlemanly part of Trevor Howard, replaced by Richard Burton's more embarassed bluntness, and the very English Celia Johnson, who is replaced by Sophia Loren, who fortunately though confesses to her Italianness. It's a good film, but, like most remakes, a bleak shadow to the original, in spite of it being in colour.

I only saw this because I fancied watching a Richard Burton film, and I wish I had watched Night of The Iguana or The Sandpiper etc. It was ok, but it lacked the desperate longing of Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson that anyone who has ever been in love knows only too well. My eyes were completely dry which they never are when watching the original. Hey ho, Ive seen it now. I don't think it works in a more modern setting, albeit the 1970s, as it loses something fundemental. Sophia Loren is of course beautiful and Burton's performance is for once quite understated and his voice as gorgeous as ever. My overall view is it was an unnecessary remake of a beautiful original.