| Photos (See all 22 | slideshow) |
| 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 | .... | art 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) | |
Visual Effects by | |||
| Charles Staffell | .... | back projection (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) | |
| Muir Mathieson | .... | composer: additional music (uncredited) | |
Other crew | |||
| Maggie Unsworth | .... | continuity (as Margaret Sibley) | |
| Renée Glynne | .... | production secretary (uncredited) | |
| T. Tomson | .... | location manager (uncredited) | |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Romance section | IMDb UK section |
Steam ... cut-glass accents ... Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto ... the refreshment room at Milford Junction ... "the shame of the whole thing - the guiltiness, the fear ..." - it all adds up to David Lean's famous film treatment of the Noel Coward tale of love blossoming and withering at a suburban railway station. Laura Jesson is a complacent middle-class housewife who gets a piece of grit in her eye one day and is helped by Doctor Alec Harvey, and the romance begins.
Coward's screenplay is characteristic of his oeuvre. There is the neat precision of the circular plot, beginning and ending with the brainless intrusion of Dolly Messiter, and the matching sub-plot of the Albert-Mrs. Bagot courtship. There are tongue-in-cheek self-references (on the cinema screen, "Flames Of Passion" coming shortly) and the trademark Cowardian grounding in exaggerated Englishness ("One has one's roots, after all"). Most typical of all is that overwrought cascade of middle-class vocabulary (" ...so utterly humiliated and defeated, and so dreadfully, dreadfully ashamed"). Coward patronises working-class people abominably. Albert and Mrs. Bagot amble effortlessly through their romance because, bless them, they are simple folk. Alec and Laura suffer torments, having so much more sensitivity, and, you see, they have reputations to lose ("the furtiveness and the lying outweigh the happiness").
Having made the transition from editor to director in 1942, Lean was at the helm for the fourth time for "Brief Encounter", all four films being Coward projects - and a highly creditable job he made of this one. The scene in which Alec explains coal-dust inhalation and Laura falls in love is a model of sensitive direction. Reflections of Laura's face in the train window and the make-up mirror suggest in visual terms the existence of her 'other self', the id to her ego. Thundering steam trains and Rachmaninov stand for the irrepressible sexual urge. Stephen Lynn's flat, with its bachelor urbanity, contrasts cleverly with Laura's safe, staid home and safe, staid husband Fred ("I don't understand!") Alec's silent hand on Laura's shoulder is wonderfully poignant, the suppressed emotion eclipsed by stupid Dolly Messiter, her face filling the screen and 'wiping out' the great moment.
Sex has to be dealt with obliquely, but it is very much the driving-force of the film. "If we control ourselves, and behave like sensible human beings ..." offers Laura hopefully but hollowly. Neither man nor woman is capable of restraint, at least until after the climax in Stephen's flat. The boathouse and the little bridge hint furtively at sexual union. Other reviewers have declared the liaison to be 'unrequited' or 'unconsummated', but I am not so sure. In the grammar of 1940's cinema, the return to the love-nest of tousle-haired, hatless Laura is the equivalent, I would suggest, of our modern bedroom scene. Isn't that why Alec suddenly decides to take the job offer?