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Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In postwar London Mary Justin runs into university lecturer Steve Stratton, the true love of her life from when they were young. She is now married to a Treasury financier having opted for a safe, secure and affectionate relationship, but the meeting rekindles the past for a while. Mary and Steve part again, but a further brief encounter on holiday in Switzerland brings matters to a head.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
In spite of being a great admirer of David Lean's earlier films and being in my fifties, I had never seen this up to now. The photography is superb, the acting of Todd, Rains, and Howard is such a delight, and the storyline is absorbing. Why this film has rarely, if ever, been shown on British television is a mystery to me. I took a chance buying this but now couldn't do without it in my collection. This is an example of David Lean before the overblown films of his later years and as such it oozes class. Also, the quality of the DVD is pristine. David Lean had the almost unique ability to make each frame of his black and white films look like a studio portrait and my word "The Passionate Friends" is a fine example of that art.
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By Observer
Format:DVD
Not necessarily a David Lean fan, but strangely I tend to find all his films intriguing.
The Passionate friends is like the negative exposure of all time classic, Brief Encounter. In which the affair is requited rather than unrequited....if requited is the word? But rather than being a terrible act of betrayal, Lean's gift as a storyteller engenders empathy towards the character.
Ann Todd's turn opposite the ever reliable Trevor Howard every bit as effective and affecting as that of Celia Johnson in the previously mentioned masterpiece.
The emotional intensity of the final scene, surpasses Brief Encounter in that respect.
This film is a work of genius.
The Passionate friends is like the negative exposure of all time classic, Brief Encounter. In which the affair is requited rather than unrequited....if requited is the word? But rather than being a terrible act of betrayal, Lean's gift as a storyteller engenders empathy towards the character.
Ann Todd's turn opposite the ever reliable Trevor Howard every bit as effective and affecting as that of Celia Johnson in the previously mentioned masterpiece.
The emotional intensity of the final scene, surpasses Brief Encounter in that respect.
This film is a work of genius.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By The CinemaScope Cat
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
On her way to Switzerland for a holiday, a married woman (Ann Todd) recollects a New Year's Eve party nine years earlier when she rekindled a romance with her former lover (Trevor Howard). Her husband (Claude Rains) forgives her indiscretion but forbids her to ever see him again. So, guess who she meets in Switzerland? Based on the novel by H.G. Wells, this is one of David Lean's romance films of which BRIEF ENCOUNTER and SUMMERTIME are better known but this one fits in snugly in between. It's not as satisfying predominantly because the central character of the wife is rather selfish and narcissistic. She loves Howard in a way she doesn't love her husband but she loves the money and security of the lifestyle Rains can provide her with. Meanwhile, she's only giving the two men in her life only half of herself and frankly, both men deserve better. Fortunately, Todd (PARADINE CASE) is quite good here and does a more than credible job of displaying the contradictory mental state of her character. Guy Green did the cinematography with some lovely French mountains and lakes standing in for Switzerland and Richard Addinsell did the overactive score. With Wilfrid Hyde-White.
The ITV DVD from England is a superb B&W transfer.
The ITV DVD from England is a superb B&W transfer.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Mr. Ross Maynard
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Claude Rains gives a superb performance in this lesser known of David Lean's films - in parts chilling and cruel; at times forlorn and abandoned; and then passionate. I like him in "Casablanca" but he is marvellous in this. By contrast I find Trevor Howard a little flat in this film (certainly compared to "Brief Encounter" and "The Third Man"). Ann Todd is magnetic on screen (more compelling than Celia Johnson I feel). "Brief Encounter" and "The Passionate Friends" were made only a few years apart and work well watched together. Alhough I think the story in this film is less strong than "Brief Encounter" - scenery apart - this film wins out largely on the strength of the performances of Ann Todd and Claude Rains.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A classy, enjoyable showcase from David Lean In the period before his grand cinema spectacles.
28 Jan 2012
By Ronald Haak
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Extremely interesting and absorbing drama that generates tension and suspense about what actions the intelligent, civilized, international banker Claude Raines will take as clues filter in about the restlessness of his younger wife. Some of the most effective scenes are those of smouldering volcano Raines, particularly a delicious scene where Raines is on the patio in Swtzerland dictating a high level letter about investment risks while fiddling with a pair of new binoculars. His dictation trails off as he intermittently praises the amazing detail the binoculars provide and sweeps them in ever widening arcs across the lake. Then he returns to the dictation, puts the glasses down, can't resist picking them up again, resuming and interrupting the dictation repeatedly while we squirm in our seats knowing that any second the binoculars will alight on Ann Todd and Trevor Howard returning by motorboat from an innocent, clandestine, all day cable car ride up the Swiss mountain, whiich Raines will misinterpret. The scene is exquisitely handled in all respects, with superb dissection of every conceivable possibility for tension and suspense building. This scene is an extremely accomplished achievement of cinema accomplishment, with an intricate unfolding of micro-events that are unforgettable, employing just a dictation setting at a table on a patio, the efficient secretary taking shorthand and a pair of binoculars. This is CINEMA first and foremost, with David Lean not tempted to reduce it to a standard adultery-suspicion formula and all actors rise to this higher purpose. There are some clumsy flashbacks and the sound is so faint one needs headphones to reduce listening strain, but the print is of pristine quality and, overall, it's a rare treat.... Read more ›
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
TOO DATED
Fine for lovers of old films but
found this very dated comparted
to other films of this era I have
thoroughly enjoyed.
found this very dated comparted
to other films of this era I have
thoroughly enjoyed.
Published 11 days ago by Lynn Bell
4.0 out of 5 stars
Old Classic
If you are old enought to remember the times that this film portrays then you should like tihs film very much.
Published 4 months ago by pooky
3.0 out of 5 stars
'Passion' AWOL
This film left a lot to be desired. Disappointment doesnt even come close. Weak storyline and acting and, the ending didn't come soon enough. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Flojo Squire
4.0 out of 5 stars
To be enjoyed
A fine film again from director David Lean, from the same year as his impressive "Madeleine" : clearly, he was as accomplished in this period as he ever had been. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ténès
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting
A wonderful job on the restoration, such a sham they did not check the sound quality as well, at times it is very hard to hear what is being said! Read more
Published 18 months ago by D. K. Grant
4.0 out of 5 stars
DAVID LEAN FAN
I saw this film some years ago and could not really remember much about it,on watching it again I enjoyed it,I thought I was not going to, as the first 20 minutes is a little... Read more
Published 19 months ago by alana
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Movie
Alot of remembering the past and then getting back to the current with narrative, not my favourite. I did think the ending was going to go another way so it ended more positive... Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2010 by Boosh
2.0 out of 5 stars
Three passionate friends cannot go on indefinitely.
The movie is old (I saw it first many, many years ago) and the years spent since then have not improved the need to see it. Read more
Published on 6 July 2010 by Vittorio De Alfaro
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