O Último Encontro

Excellent and very enjoyable, 'Til We Meet Again is about an escaped prisoner and an ill woman who fall in love on a cruise ship. This movie had me figuratively grabbing for the tissues. But I won't discuss the plot so as not to spoil anything. Suffice it to say, the movie starts sweetly, and quickly becomes unexpectedly compelling and enormously satisfying -- as very few movies are.

It stars Merle Oberon and George Brent, and they are both great! I could hardly believe this was the same George Brent as his sedate character in Dark Victory.

And Merle Oberon is breathtaking. So exquisitely beautiful, and charming and delicate like porcelain. Her looks and mannerisms and innocent style and charm reminded me very much of Audrey Hepburn, and I kept wondering if Hepburn could have played the role (had she been the correct age), but I concluded Oberon was definitely the right actress.

Merle's unusual, exotic dark looks, otherworldly beauty, and rare talent and magnetism prompted me to look up more about her, and I found out she was born in India and was half Indian! Her mother was Indian. That explains her unique look and air, which sets her apart from all other Hollywood stars.

This film, like Now Voyager and Ship of Fools, and all the greatest classic love stories, has a beautiful musical love theme that carries you through the movie, whenever the two lead characters are together. 'Til We Meet Again's love theme is exquisite.

This movie is a well-made, very classy film that's enjoyable, captivating, moving, and extremely fulfilling. The characters are engaging and unforgettable, emotionally identifiable and heartfelt. I certainly recommend 'Til We Meet Again, especially if you love romances, or especially if you love classic films/dramas that are unusual and exquisite.

I watched this movie tonight. It is a well done remake. Bette Davis & Marlene Dietrich passed on the lead, so it went to Merle. She made the part of Joan her own. But...there is little to no chemistry between her and George Brent. I saw no passion between these doomed lovers. George Brent was a popular star, but his acting is so wooden; I really had a difficult time finding why she loved him so desperately. I would recommend the movie to Merle Oberon fans.

There are moments in certain movies that, once experienced, turn you, forevermore, into a movie-lover.

As those two glasses broke, in a bar in Acapulco, the sound nearly masked by New Years' celebrations and the strains of "Auld Lang Syne", I let out a sob that I can still feel, well more than fifty years later.

Dated, trite, corny, awful sound, loud voices, yeah, all of those. But put it aside and revel in this beautiful, gentle, glamorous and romantic love story. Even with all the available cinematographic bells and whistles, it simply could not be made today.

'Til We Meet Again is a remake of Warner Brothers earlier film, One Way Passage, a story of doomed romance that starred William Powell and Kay Francis. This film and the previous one concerns the shipboard romance of a man being brought back to the United States in custody to face the gas chamber in San Quentin and a terminally ill woman on a cruise for one last fling at life. Taking the parts of Powell and Francis are George Brent and Merle Oberon.

I can see Jack Warner's mind at work on this one. The year before George Brent had romanced and treated the terminally ill Bette Davis in Dark Victory. Why not get Brent into a remake of this other film about a dying woman and her last romance? We even get Geraldine Fitzgerald in this one in the same part, best friend to the terminally ill woman.

The part of the police lieutenant escorting Brent is built up considerably from One Way Passage where the role was played by Warren Hymer. Here Pat O'Brien is the cop and he's nobody's fool. Still Brent has friends on board, Frank McHugh who's a con man with a nice drunk act and Binnie Barnes who's a con woman with a phony French accent. She goes after O'Brien and not totally in the line of duty. She's also my favorite in this film.

Oberon and Brent make a beautiful pair of lovers and one had better have as big a supply of handkerchiefs as one did in watching One Way Passage.

George Brent and Merle Oberon meet in a bar in Hong Kong, share a cocktail of his own concoction, break the glasses and part. He's promptly apprehended by Pat O'Brien, and taken back to be hanged for murder. She's on the same cruise ship, dying of heart disease.

It's a remake of 1932's ONE-WAY PASSAGE, the most romantic movie not directed by Frank Borzage. The musical theme is the same; Frank McHugh is the same; Binnie Barnes takes Aline MacMahon's role, and Geraldine Fitzgerald is present for Miss Oberon to make her illness apparent to. Everyone performs their roles well, but at 99 minutes, this lacks the tightness and sense of racing time that makes the original movie's 67 minutes such a sensation. Those high-speed Pre-Code movies from Warner Brothers made their points and moved ahead. This one works, but not as well.