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Features: DVD
From No‘l Coward's play Still Life, legendary filmmaker David Lean deftly explores the thrill, pain, and tenderness of illicit romance during the dour, gray Britain of 1945. From a chance meeting on a train platform, a middle-aged married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) enter into a passionate, ultimately doomed love affair set to a swirling Rachmaninoff score. Lean's award-winning masterpiece in presented in a beautifully restored digital transfer.
"The most characteristic and perfect British film of all time." International Directory Of Films And Filmmakers
"Deeply touching." James Agee
"A masterpiece." Halliwell's Film Guide
Editor's Note
Though he might be best remembered for sweeping epics such as DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, renowned British director David Lean began his film career with small-scale character studies based on the plays of Noel Coward. Lean's fourth film, BRIEF ENCOUNTER--which was also his fourth and final collaboration with Coward--adapts the playwright's heartbreaking tale of two ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary power of love. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a seemingly happy, middle-class housewife who meets the equally married physician Alec (a young Trevor Howard in only his third screen role) when he removes a speck of dust from her eye at a London railway station. The pair soon find themselves drawn together through weekly meetings at the station cafe, their casual encounters blooming into a chaste love affair marked by intimate conversation, longing glances--and the tragic realization that neither of them will be able to break the bonds of social propriety that keep them wedded to other people. Seen by some as quintessentially English, Lean's achingly lovely exploration of the conflicting demands of personal happiness and social responsibility remains nonetheless universal and timeless. Johnson and Howard's nuanced performances, Robert Krasker's shadowy cinematography, and a soundtrack of hauntingly romantic Rachmaninov piano concertos only add to the film's aura of quiet desperation.
| Features | Scene Access | | English Dolby Digital Mono | | Audio Commentary | | Interactive Menus | | Theatrical Trailer |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Home Vision/Public Media |
| Release Date: 6/27/2000 |
| Running Time: 86 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1946 | | Catalog ID: 140 | | UPC: 00037429150726 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | 4:3 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1947) | | | Celia Johnson, Nominee, Best Actress | | | David Lean, Nominee, Best Director | | | Anthony Havelock-Allan, et al., Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay | |
Cannes Film Festival (1946) |  | David Lean, Winner, Grand Prize |
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| | Professional Reviews | Entertainment Weekly
"...The most memorable treatment of extramarital romance in movie history..." -- Rating: A- 07/14/1995 p.67Total Film
"...This 1946 romantic drama still packs an emotional punch. David Lean's direction is assured, the script is poignant, and the performances are superb..." 05/01/2000 p.103 Sight and Sound
"...[An] expert adaptation....[With] elegant cinematography..." 06/01/2001 p.58 Empire
5 stars out of 5 -- "Lean's direction and Noel Coward's expertly crafted script are letter-perfect..." 09/01/2007 p.61 Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 10 of 10
Intense and unforgettable, underscored by perfect use of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto... A truly wonderful film...
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