Brief Encounter

1945

I saw a post about platforms and I found a movie recommendation there.

Brief Encounter. A film adapted from a screenplay about a married man and a married woman who meet by chance and have an intense affair.

I went ahead and saw the film , a 1945 classic and then I found and saw the 1974 remake of the film.

While I was completely blown away by the original version, I think the remake was unnecessary.

As an original, it could have been alright… But for a remake, I think it lost the entire story.

The lovers were cold and didn’t even seem to have any sparks…Not only was the chemistry lacking, the conversations were bland and the path to their affair was rushed.

They showed no uncontrollable emotion… The affair had no driving force.

For a film that ran for an hour and forty three minutes, I would say not enough of the time was spent on the lovers and their encounter.

1974

What leaves me pondering is how two good actors, Sophia Lauren and Richard Burton could leave me feeling this way.

Good Old Things

When I was about 19 years old, my “cousin” Gosha, in a bid to bond and create a deeper relationship with her dad began making trips to the town where I lived. Her father, who for reasons best known to him back then, had moved from the city where his family lived to the town where we lived, had a small apartment, somewhat like a bachelors pad; and so Gosha always stayed with us for the duration of her visits.

Gosha was and is a conversationalist; she can talk and listen for hours. She also is an arguer. She had my sister all to herself when it came to arguing though, you can definitely count me out of that. How they enjoyed it and laughed while at it, I still wonder. I loved the conversations. We would talk and laugh so loud, I remember my dad shushing us around 2am one night.

During one of those conversations, we began talking about old movies and Gosha recommended one; Gone With The wind. She said it was a must watch. About a year later, when she came for another visit, she returned with a video cassette of the movie. We promised to see it but we never did because no longer had a video cassette player as the world had migrated to Video CDs.

About a year ago, 20 years later, I suddenly started to crave old movies; I began feeding this craving one movie after another. I started with ‘The Sound of Music’ 1965; you could see the excitement on my sons face when he heard me singing along with Maria and the von Trapp family singers.

Next, I saw ‘The Godfather I’ 1972, then ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ 1961 and then ‘Coming to America’ 1988. One afternoon, while driving home, wondering what old movie to see next, I remembered Gosha’s ‘Gone With The Wind’ 1939. I finally got to see it… 20 years later and It was worth it.

Gone with the Wind is a beautiful movie, it tells a tale of a spoilt but strong and determined lady who must face problems brought forth by The Civil War and her participation in The Reconstruction as well. It does not exclude her love affairs and how they all played out.

After Gone with the wind, I made a list of popular old movies that I had not seen yet and then I began viewing them one after the other. I have graded them with stars, just in case you want to give it a go as well.

  • Father of the Bride 1950 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Anastasia 1956 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Roman Holiday 1953 ⭐⭐
  • Casablanca 1942 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • Mary Poppins 1964 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • It’s a Wonderful Life 1946 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • An Affair to Remember 1957 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  • The Palm Beach Story 1942 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have got a few more I would like to see, but I have not made time for them yet.

  • It happened one night 1934
  • Chances 1931
  • 12 Angry Men 1957
  • Vertigo 1958
  • Double Identity 1944
  • Imitation of Life 1959
  • Sunset Boulevard 1950
  • The Apartment 1960

Also, in the memory of Olivia Newton John, I decided to watch Grease 1978.

Is there any good old movie you think I need to see?