Brief Encounter (1945)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

(more)

Release Date:

24 August 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Tagline:

A story of the most precious moments in woman's life!

Plot:

Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Plot Keywords:

Railway | Love | Railway Station | Doctor | Housewife

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Celia Johnson	...	Laura Jesson
Trevor Howard	...	Dr. Alec Harvey
Stanley Holloway	...	Albert Godby
Joyce Carey	...	Myrtle Bagot
Cyril Raymond	...	Fred Jesson
Everley Gregg	...	Dolly Messiter
Marjorie Mars	...	Mary Norton
Margaret Barton	...	Beryl Walters, Tea Room Assistant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wilfred Babbage	...	Policeman at War Memorial (uncredited)
Alfie Bass	...	Waiter at the Royal (uncredited)
Wallace Bosco	...	Doctor at Bobbie's Accident (uncredited)
Sydney Bromley	...	Johnnie, Second Soldier (uncredited)
Nuna Davey	...	Herminie Rolandson, Mary's Cousin (uncredited)
Valentine Dyall	...	Stephen Lynn, Alec's 'Friend' (uncredited)
Irene Handl	...	Cellist and Organist (uncredited)
Dennis Harkin	...	Stanley, Beryl's Man (uncredited)
Edward Hodge	...	Bill, First Soldier (uncredited)
Jack May	...	Boat Rental Man (uncredited)
Avis Scott	...	Cardova Waitress (uncredited)
George V. Sheldon	...	Clergyman, Train Passenger (uncredited)
Richard Thomas	...	Bobbie Jesson (uncredited)
Henrietta Vincent	...	Margaret Jesson (uncredited)

Directed by
David Lean

Writing credits
Noel Coward		(play "Still Life") uncredited
Anthony Havelock-Allan		uncredited
David Lean		uncredited
Ronald Neame		uncredited

Produced by
Noel Coward	....	producer
Anthony Havelock-Allan	....	producer (uncredited)
Ronald Neame	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Robert Krasker		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jack Harris

Art Direction by
Lawrence P. Williams		(as L.P. Williams)

Production Management
Anthony Havelock-Allan	....	in charge of production
E.J. Holding	....	production manager (as E. Holding)
Ronald Neame	....	in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
George Pollock	....	assistant director
Victor Wark	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
G.E. Calthrop	....	artistic supervisor: Noel Coward
William Kellner	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Elven Webb	....	assistant art director (uncredited)
Herbert Westbrook	....	draughtsman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Desmond Dew	....	sound recordist
Stanley Lambourne	....	sound recordist
Harry Miller	....	sound editor
Peter Davies	....	dubbing sound camera (uncredited)

Special Effects by
George Blackwell	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
B. Francke	....	camera operator
Jim Body	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Alan Bryce	....	clapper loader (uncredited)
Arthur Ibbetson	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Ronald Neame	....	director of photography: additional photography (uncredited)
E. Owen	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Margery Saunders	....	associate editor
John Cooke	....	second assistant editor (uncredited)
Winston Ryder	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
John Hollingsworth	....	associate musical director (uncredited)
Percival Mackey	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)

Other crew
Maggie Unsworth	....	continuity (as Margaret Sibley)
Renée Glynne	....	production secretary (uncredited)
T. Tomson	....	location manager (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Cineguild

Distributors

• Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited (1945) (UK) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Associated British Film Distributors (ABFD) (1948) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• C-Sales (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Carlton International Media
• Carlton Visual Entertainment (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Epix Media (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• F.J. Lucas (Brazil) (VHS)
• Filmmuseum Distributie (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (re-release)
• LW Editora (2005) (Brazil) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (USA) (video)
• Park Circus (2006) (UK) (theatrical)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1977) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Other Companies

• National Symphony Orchestra  musicians (as The National Symphony Orchestra)

Also Known As:

Noel Coward's Brief Encounter (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Spain:13 (DVD rating) | Australia:G | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:AL | Finland:K-16 | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #11819, Adult Audience) | Ireland:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Cineguild

Trivia:

The screenplay was adapted and based on Noel Coward's 1935 short one-act (half-hour) stage play "Still Life". It was expanded from five short scenes in a train station (the refreshment tea room of Milford Junction Station) to include action in other settings (Laura's house, the apartment of the Dr.Harvey's friend, restaurants, parks, train compartments, shops, a car, a boating lake and at the cinema),

Goofs:

Continuity: When Laura is running away from Dr. Lynn's apartment in the rain, her book is next to her body, under her purse. Halfway down the street, the angle changes on the still-running Laura, but now the book is outside her purse. And it never gets wet!

Quotes:

Fred Jesson: [playing the crossword puzzle] You're a poetry addict. See if you can help me over this. It's Keats. 'When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face / Huge cloudy symbols of a high _______.' Something that's seven letters.
Laura Jesson: Romance, I think. I'm almost sure it is. 'Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.' It will be in the Oxford Book of English Verse.
Fred Jesson: No, it's right I'm sure. It fits in with 'delirium' and 'Baluchistan.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "All in the Family: Archie's Brief Encounter: Part 3 (#7.3)" (1976)

Soundtrack:

Spanish Dances No. 5

How Can I Describe Perfection.In Two words:Simply Sublime

For me,a film addicted"Brief Encounter" is a polished diamond.It's the most perfect romance:You don't see lovers climbing balconys or dying in each others hand.What you see in "Brief Encounter"is two ordinary people in love.Only two normal people who stumble on one another in a railroad station and discover that they have more things in common,then meets the eye.So they started to see each other once a week,but their love are doomed,because they are both married and have very good lives.Celia Johnson is a sparklling gem as a house wife repressed who finds a man so repressed as she.That leads us to Trevor Howard.I know the reason of Celia's anguish.A normal woman simply could not resist to those eyes and the perfect face of Trevor,who embodies every english man in a simple wave,or just laughing in the theater.David Lean's soberb direction and Noel Coward's perfect story give space to show that you don't need to be Romeo And Juliet to tell that love's a good cause to fight,even when the fight is lost