Brief Encounter

Last night we watched Brief Encounter again. It is one of the classics of British Cinema. David Lean directed and Noel Coward produced. It was made during the last year of the war, just before the return of the troops and it embodied the pre-war attitude of right and wrong. It was perhaps the last film which displayed the idea of adultery as wrong. Here was a couple, each married to someone else, who fell in love with each other. The passion was strong, but the guilt was stronger. In the end it was circumstance that prevented the consummation, but the betrayal was there despite it's lack of a physical manifestation.

Trevor Howard was 7 years younger than Celia Johnson, and in his first big part, but it is really her film rather than his, although Carnforth station is the real star.

A film like that could no longer be made. Such consummate actors capable of showing real emotion could not be employed and the theme would seem trite today. How corrupt we have become!