Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786300988798 Format: NTSC ISBN: 6300988791 Label: Paramount Home Video Manufacturer: Paramount Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Paramount Home Video Release Date: April 20, 1988 Running Time: 86 minutes Studio: Paramount Home Video Theatrical Release Date: August 24, 1946 Sales Rank: 34587
Amazon.com essential video: To many, Brief Encounter may seem like a relic of more proper times--or, specifically, more properly British times--when the pressures of marital decorum and fidelity were perhaps more keenly felt. In truth, David Lean's fourth film remains a timeless study of true love (or, rather, the promise of it), and the aching desire for intimate connection that is often subdued by the obligations of marriage. And so it is that ordinary Londoners Alec (Trevor Howard), a married doctor, and contented housewife Laura (Celia Johnson) meet by chance one day in a train station, when he volunteers to remove a fleck of ash from her eye (a romantic gesture that, perhaps, inspired Robert Towne's "flaw in the iris" scene in Chinatown).
It so happens that their schedules coincide at the train station every Thursday, and their casual attraction grows, through quiet conversation and longing expressions, into the desperate recognition of mutual love. From this point forward, Lean turns this utterly precise, 85-minute film into a bracing study of romantic suspense, leading inevitably, and with the paranoid, furtive glances of a spy thriller, to the moment when this brief encounter must be consummated or abandoned altogether. Decades later, the outcome of this affair--both agonizing and rapturous--is subtle and yet powerful enough to draw tears from the numbest of souls, and spark debate regarding the tragedy or virtue of the choices made. A truly universal film, with meticulously controlled emotions revealed through the flawless performances of Howard and Johnson, and an enduring masterpiece that continued Lean on his course to cinematic greatness. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A classic, ladies and gentlemen!
Although Brief Encounter went for some years being disparaged by smartass comics, the film stands the test of time by virtue of the sensitive performances, Noel Coward's nearly impeccable writing, Robert ... Read More
Rating: - Language: English (YES) Italian (NO)
For "Brief Encounter - Criterion Collection" (1946)
"Brief Encounter - Criterion Collection" is a gorgeous restoration of an exceptional and enduring work of art.
Rating: - When passion violently invades...
...The unsuspecting lives of Laura & Dr. Harvey; this video titillates the viewer by a metaphorical likening of love's passions to the steaming over, crushing power which once influenced the coal burning ... Read More
Rating: - My favorite movie!
Brief Encounter is the most romantic, sensuous movie ever made. There is so much "electricity" and passion - with virtually no physical contact between the two lovers.
Rating: - Classic romance
A fantastic film, with brillant acting that is subtle and realistic, and although the dialogue seems a little dated at first, after the first few minutes you forget all about this and are totally emersed in what ... Read More
