Una strada, un amore

Hanover Street is one of those old fashioned wartime romances so popular on both sides of the pond during and after World War II. At a time when a lot of people and nations united to defeat a generally recognized menace to civilization folks were in a sacrificing mood.

American flier Harrison Ford and British army nurse Lesley Anne Down meet on Hanover Street and the chemistry is high voltage electric. Soon they are in an affair, but Down doesn't tell Ford she's already slightly married to Christopher Plummer.

Plummer is in British Intelligence, a researcher and a trainer, but yearns for some field action feeling that Down might see him in a better life as he has suspicions that she's drifting away. Wouldn't you know it he takes on a field mission that involves him pretending to be an S.S. officer and he's to go to some S.S. headquarters in occupied France and steal some vital plans. This is the kind of plot that was popular during World War II years. The most famous were those sought after 'letters of transit' in Casablanca.

That field mission puts him on Harrison Ford's bomber and when it's hit both have to bail out and Ford becomes part of the mission.

Hanover Street is so old fashioned though Ford seems to borrow a bit of Han Solo from the future in his portrayal of the flier that it really belongs in the Forties. Only that Ford and Down are actually shown if discreetly having a sexual relationship that the Code would never permit you would swear this was a Forties film. In fact think Casablanca if want to know how this ends.

If you like romances, Hanover Street is for you.

"Hanover Street" is the kind of movie people like to pick apart because the SS Sgt. didn't render the proper Hitler salute or the uniforms were wrong or because the B-25 wasn't flown over Europe but mostly in North Africa. Well, I imagine the B-25 sets were left over from Catch 22, which used B-25s, and there was a shortage of SS uniforms at Elstree Studios when this movie was filmed. It doesn't really detract from the film. These are bits of entertainment -- not a masters level thesis. I have to say this is an "adult" movie that probably wouldn't be made today. If filmed today (late 2005), then there'd be a lot more emphasis on wise-ass remarks to the commanding officer and silly, stilted lines like "If I lost you then I'd just die ... oh I'd just die." Pretty much along the lines of 2001's awful Pearl Harbor. The love story is really more about honor and sacrifice than love, and reflects closely wartime England when many single, and probably married, English women dashed off with "heroic" Yanks -- which gave way to the British saying about Americans: "Over paid, over sexed and, bloody well, over here." There's a lot of action in this movie and a lot of tension that builds up at the right moments. Is it a big, blockbuster movie like "Raiders of The Lost Ark?" No, but it's got a good script, the cinema-photography is outstanding and the score is perfect. Aside from Catch 22, there's not a lot of places you can see REAL B-25s lining up for takeoff in a film (sorry, again the Pearl Harbor CGI doesn't cut it for me) and the fear-laced banter between Ford's bomber crew seems closer to the real thing than the heroic bull from other movies. If there's a gripe I've got about this film it's Ford's haircut. You can see a lot of detail and expense in the Hanover Street set, the Blitz and even the airfield. Everybody looks up to 1940s standards and the set has that smoke-filled, perpetual autumn look that seems to be what people associate with early color films from the World War II era. However, Ford's 1978 shag kind of ruins the mood. Maybe he couldn't cut his hair because "Empire Strikes Back" was due to start lensing soon after "Hanover Street" went into post production ... who knows, but it detracts from the detail paid to the extras and the set. Still, "Hanover Street" is a good film.

While the story is set in the context of world war 2, what it's really about is the difference between men who are now called 'alpha' and 'beta.' One is a brash, self-confident, risk-taking narcissist; the other is a high-achieving, highly educated, planner. Women often wish to marry the latter, and make love with the former. Ms. Down faces this issue.

Overall, an excellent discussion, and depiction, of this particular kind of dilemma.

The movie begins in London, with the American pilot (alpha) and the British nurse conning each other, trying to fake each other out for a place on a bus. This game is interrupted by v-2 rocket bombing, and a real, and intense, emotional bonding. Much later, the nurse's husband (beta) is introduced, and we discover he is a high-ranking official with the British military. The story develops from there, with a somewhat improbable pairing, and a spy mission. It is suspenseful, but is really a romantic drama.

This film has many great elements, but the whole things fails primarily due to overwrought dialogue that is very soap operatic with words put in character's mouths that mostly teenage girls would think of. Without John Barry's romantic score, this film would be pathetic, leaning towards hilarious.

In any film, when two characters meet and fall in love there is a certain amount of time and shared experiences that pass in the story before the love between them is credible. In this film, the love is instant, deeply romantic -- yet torrid, and lasting. Completely impossible! Having said all that, the film still provides some great military movie sequences. There are some funny bits with Halloran and his co-pilot Cimino mouthing off during their missions and briefings. And a whole military caper pulled off by Halloran (Ford) and Mr. Sallinger (Plummer) which is both exciting and easy to follow.

After a while, one realizes that Margaret Sallinger, (Down) never speaks her lines, she whispers them in a plaintive, teary voice, always on the verge of boo-hoo. This becomes grating after a while. Further, it makes the audience wonder what Halloran sees in her.

Well, the answer to what the attraction is never comes, but the noble dialogue at the end is a struggle to listen to and is a riff on the immortal Casablanca "Hill of beans/Here's lookin' at you" farewell between Rick and Ilsa. It is well that this Hanover Street high-road sign-off sequence comes last as it is the most indulgent in melodrama. Still, Ford and Plummer work so effectively to make this movie almost passable that you really have to give them credit for their commitment to their characters.

First of all Harrison Ford can do no wrong. Please understand that. With that said, read on: This film was directed and shot in such a way that I felt that I was watching a film school final shot by a mediocre student. The dialogue is Spam-stale and the chemistry between Harrison and Lesley-Ann Down is zilch. The first love scene is so poorly shot and edited, my dog could have done a better job in his sleep. Most of the time, you feel that most of the cast is reading cue cards; it's that stiff. The timeline is goofy and the movie jumps around and is pretty unbelievable. Harrison was trying desperately to stretch his acting wings at this point in his career, but the material and dialogue were so limited, you really feel for the actor. But, damn, he's so charming, sexy and likable, it's worth the headache to sit through this abomination just to enjoy Harrison being Harrison.