Hanover Street

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.

When I read the synopsis for the plot of 'Pearl' I thought of 'Hanover Street' right away. I saw this movie when I was 10 years old and was impressed by it's pacing, the plot twist, and the fact that in the end it is just as it is billed, a romantic war movie. For a guy like me who cant stand romantic war movies I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this obscure film not once but the many times I have watched it. If during the course of a film you feel that same longing a character experiences then it has made it's mark. When David Halloran, Harrison's character, transitions from cocky bomber pilot to reluctant pilot who begins to hear the concerns of his bombardier as well as his heart, from the unhealthy romance of two people in need of something concrete in a time of uncertainty, from the struggle to get back to the one you love this movie runs the gammit of what war is like for lovers, soldiers, and ordinary civilians caught up in it. Think of loving someone so much they make you ache then throw in the fact that they are someone elses lover and the knowledge that you will have to turn and walk away from them forever.

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.

The story. The acting. The romanticism in the war time. And the sacrifice. Pillars of a classic about choices, friendship, honor, love and importance of meetings. Theoretical, a war film. In essence, only romance using the war as clothes. Its seduction force - to remind old things who define an universe of world out ordinary rules. Its virtue - to mix in coherent manner different stories who becomes one with many sides. A beautiful film for the admirable performances. And for the art of detail. For a form of heroism who remains noble and impressive and touching, remembering the Medieval stories. And for the atmosphere who defines in brilliant manner the drama of the lead characters. It could be discovered as classic romance or as war story. In essence, it is an admirable story about values.

"Hanover Street" is the kind of movie people like to pick apart because the SS Sgt. didn't render the proper Hitler salute or the uniforms were wrong or because the B-25 wasn't flown over Europe but mostly in North Africa. Well, I imagine the B-25 sets were left over from Catch 22, which used B-25s, and there was a shortage of SS uniforms at Elstree Studios when this movie was filmed. It doesn't really detract from the film. These are bits of entertainment -- not a masters level thesis. I have to say this is an "adult" movie that probably wouldn't be made today. If filmed today (late 2005), then there'd be a lot more emphasis on wise-ass remarks to the commanding officer and silly, stilted lines like "If I lost you then I'd just die ... oh I'd just die." Pretty much along the lines of 2001's awful Pearl Harbor. The love story is really more about honor and sacrifice than love, and reflects closely wartime England when many single, and probably married, English women dashed off with "heroic" Yanks -- which gave way to the British saying about Americans: "Over paid, over sexed and, bloody well, over here." There's a lot of action in this movie and a lot of tension that builds up at the right moments. Is it a big, blockbuster movie like "Raiders of The Lost Ark?" No, but it's got a good script, the cinema-photography is outstanding and the score is perfect. Aside from Catch 22, there's not a lot of places you can see REAL B-25s lining up for takeoff in a film (sorry, again the Pearl Harbor CGI doesn't cut it for me) and the fear-laced banter between Ford's bomber crew seems closer to the real thing than the heroic bull from other movies. If there's a gripe I've got about this film it's Ford's haircut. You can see a lot of detail and expense in the Hanover Street set, the Blitz and even the airfield. Everybody looks up to 1940s standards and the set has that smoke-filled, perpetual autumn look that seems to be what people associate with early color films from the World War II era. However, Ford's 1978 shag kind of ruins the mood. Maybe he couldn't cut his hair because "Empire Strikes Back" was due to start lensing soon after "Hanover Street" went into post production ... who knows, but it detracts from the detail paid to the extras and the set. Still, "Hanover Street" is a good film.