La valse dans l'ombre

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

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.

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.

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.

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.