Brief Encounter (Roadshow) (1946)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Featurette-A Profile Of Brief Encounter Theatrical Trailer Gallery-Photo Biographies-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	1946
Running Time	82:27 (Case: 86)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Lean Noel Coward
Studio Distributor	G.C.F. Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Celia Johnson Trevor Howard
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Sergei Rachmaninov

    Brief Encounter is one of David Lean's earliest, and most memorable films. Made just after the Second World War, it is a romantic drama about two people who meet by chance, fall in love and gradually realise their love is impossible given that they are both already married (not to each other).

    Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) is a housewife from Ketchworth who travels every Thursday to Milford to do her weekly routine of visiting the library, having lunch and going to the movies. Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) is a general practitioner in Churley who also travels to Milford every Thursday to visit the hospital.

    They meet by chance at the waiting room in the Milford Junction train station one day when Laura accidentally gets a bit of grit lodged in her eyes. Alec removes it for her. They accidentally bump into one another again the following week and soon start seeing each other every Thursday and falling in love.

    Unfortunately, they both realise their love is doomed as both of them are already married and are too honourable and "decent" to either divorce or commit adultery (apart from a few furtive kisses). The film details how they fall in love, but also chronicles their feelings of despair and guilt as they strive to do the "right thing." Don't expect any torrid scenes - this is the 1940s after all and the characters are both well-bred "no sex please we're British" types with stiff upper lips and all that.

    The storyline is rather simple, and yet told in an interesting way as a series of flashbacks (corresponding to a sequence of Thursdays involving the two main characters) from the perspective of Laura. Laura provides voice-over narration for many of the scenes and we get to hear her innermost thoughts and feelings. Laura narrates the scenes that unfold within the context of an imaginary conversation where she discloses her relationship with Alec to her husband (Cyril Raymond).

    There is also a subplot involving the rather haughty and pretentious proprietor of the café at the waiting room (Joyce Carey) and her suitor, a station attendant (Stanley Holloway).

    The very first scene, where Laura and Alec are interrupted by a nosy and chatty acquaintance of Laura (Everley Gregg), represents the "present" and the starting point for Laura's reminiscence and narration. If you observe the scene very closely you will get a very good idea of what the ending will be (which repeats the scene but with the added clarity of us fully understanding the context of the scene).

    I found the film a fascinating "window" into the mores and conventions of a bygone era that no doubt will seem strange to modern day Australians and yet one that some of their parents may in fact be familiar with. Laura's husband dresses up in full suit and tie at home even when he is "relaxing" in the living room solving a crossword puzzle, and in the days before TV, people listened to the radio in the evenings. They even sleep in separate beds!

Video

    This is a full frame transfer based on a 35mm print. The film is in black and white, and so is the transfer.

    The film source is in quite good condition, with acceptable levels of grain. Compression artefacts are also minimal. I did notice circular film marks (reel change markers) in the top right corner around 63:04, 72:12 and 72:20. I also noticed some vertical lines running down the screen at around 63:05-63:23.

    The transfer has fairly high contrast, with good detail levels. Shadow detail was about average, and I did not notice any colour tint or smearing on the black and white print.

    There is only one subtitle track present (English). I turned it on initially because I was having trouble adjusting to the clipped English accents and the rather fast dialogue. The accuracy of the subtitle track is below average - many simplifications are made due to the fast dialogue and occasionally entire lines are skipped.

    The disc is single sided and single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). The soundtrack is in mono.

    The audio is a bit crackly and boomy, with female voices sounding a bit screechy but I suspect this is about as good as it's going to get given the age of the film.

    As mentioned earlier, initially I had some difficulty understanding the dialogue because it was spoken quite fast and in a clipped accent. However, I got used to it (and the characters started speaking slower). I did not notice any audio synchronization issues.

    I heard a slight "pop" (almost as if the dialogue had been spliced a bit too late) around 19:31.

    As far as the background music is concerned, you'd better like Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, as the background music seems to consist entirely of excerpts from the concerto. I have to say the music and the film complement each other well.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Whilst not quite brimming with extras, the inclusion of a retrospective documentary is a welcome bonus. The other extras are pretty run-of-the-mill.

Menu

    The menus are full frame. The main menu includes an introduction and background audio.

Featurette-A Profile Of Brief Encounter (23:55)

    This is a retrospective documentary about the film, narrated by David Bond. It is presented in colour, full frame and Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). Interestingly, the featurette also includes an English subtitle track.

    It includes excerpts from the film, publicity stills, and interviews with

• Sheridan Morley (Biographer of Noel Coward)
• Margaret Barton ("Beryl")
• Sir Anthony Havelock-Allan (producer)
• Ronald Neame (producer)
• Lucy Fleming (actress and daughter of Celia Johnson)
• John Sessions (actor)

    The documentary talks about the other films that David Lean and Noel Coward collaborated in, the genesis of the film in Noel Coward's play Still Life, casting, and other aspects of the film including locations.

    The tightly structured play from which the film evolved was built around conversations in a waiting room at a railway station. The film broadens the scenes to include going to the movies, lunching at a restaurant, driving out in the country and a friend's apartment.

Theatrical Trailer (2:32)

    This is presented in 1.56:1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). The audio track is mono, and sounds somewhat distorted. The video transfer looks rather brownish.

Gallery-Photo

    This is a set of 15 stills (all captioned) taken from the film and during the shooting, plus publicity photos.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    This contains a number of text stills containing biographies and mug shots of:

• Dame Celia Johnson ("Laura Jesson")
• Trevor Howard ("Alex Harvey")
• Sir Noel Coward (writer/co-director)
• Sir David Lean (director)

    The Region 4 version (which has similar features to the R2 special edition) of this disc misses out on;

• Audio commentary track by film historian Bruce Eder
• booklet essay by Adrian Turner
• "Restoration Demonstration" featurette
• Color bars

    The Region 1 (Criterion) version of this disc misses out on;

• Featurette - A Profile Of Brief Encounter
• Photo Gallery
• Cast and crew biographies

    There was also an earlier Region 2 version that misses out on;

• Featurette - A Profile Of Brief Encounter
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical trailer
• English subtitle track

    It would be a hard choice between the Region 4 version and the Criterion edition, as they contain different extras. My money would go for the R4 simply because it's cheaper and in PAL but you may prefer the R1.

    Brief Encounter is a romantic drama about two strangers who meet and fell in love and struggled to reconcile their love against their "better" judgement. It is a black and white film, considered one of David Lean's finest, made in the 1940s post World War II.

    This is a "digitally remastered special edition" containing a very clean video transfer and acceptable audio transfer.

     Extras include a retrospective documentary, cast and crew bios, a photo gallery and a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall