Brief Encounter 1974

Brief Encounter (1974 film)

Brief Encounter is a 1974 British-Italian television film starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, adapted from the play Still Life by Noël Coward

  

 The plot of the film is about two strangers, each married to another, who meet in a railway station and find themselves in a brief but intense affair. The material was previously the basis for the David Lean film Brief Encounter (1945). Burton was cast at the last moment, after Robert Shaw dropped out

The two lead roles were cast with “wild disregard for suitability,” according to Brian McFarlane, who has described the film as “a total disaster.” Originally intended to have a television screening in the United States followed by a cinema release in the rest of the world, its poor reception in New York led to the international plans being abandoned

Rank, who owned the theatrical rights in the UK, sold them to television.According to David Shipman, reviewing Burton’s career in The Great Movie Stars, this remake was “widely viewed as a ludicrous undertaking

“It nonetheless scored a 57 on Rotten Tomatoes, which is considered respectable

The landscape and sultry summer of the English 1970’s countryside deserves a mention in particular, as they encapsulate a period of time during a long, hot summer

A Scorpion Release! Screen legends Richard Burton (Where Eagles Dare, The Night of the Iguana, Becket) and Sophia Loren (Two Women, Blood Feud, Marriage Italian Style) headline this 1974 remake of the 1945 David Lean classic, based on a play by Noël Coward and starring Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson

 

A social worker (Loren) and a doctor (Burton) meet by chance in a railway station, but are almost instantly captivated by each other, although they are each already married

The pair soon develop a connection that evolves into an unexpected love. Alan Bridges (The Hireling, Out of Season) directed this Carol Ponti (Doctor Zhivago, Blow-Up) production and bittersweet drama about muted romance. The wonderful supporting cast include the great character actor John Le Mesurier (The Italian Job, Salt and Pepper)

Brief Encounter 1974