Guerre et passion

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.

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.

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.

One of my female friends once told she hated "Memphis Belle but she liked this film. It is not hard to see why. It is more of a Barbara Cartland style romance than an action adventure movie.

One interesting point is that former RAF /USAAF airfield at Bovingdon was used for filming. It was previously used as the location for a number of air movies such as "633 Squadron","Mosquito Squadron" and "The War Lover". By the time "Hanover Street" started filming in 1978 it was disused and derelict so the aircraft were only filmed with very long lenses to avoid showing the background clearly.

The film suffers from too many historical and technical errors to be taken seriously by WW2 buffs. For example there is a discussion about "light " and "heavy flak" which makes it clear that writer/director Peter Hyams thinks these terms refer to the number of guns employed whereas in fact they refer to the calibre of the weapons. For example a target defended by 100 x 20 mm guns is defended by "light" flak while a target defended by a single 88mm gun is defended by "heavy" flak.

There is also a scene where the two heroes are pursued by a Hetzer tank destroyer,a vehicle whose only role is the destruction of enemy armour and would be singularly unsuited to the task of pursuing enemy agents.

On the credit side John Barry delivers his usual excellent score.