Brief Encounter

 

I had to concentrate to understand the dialogue, which I did not have to do with Casablanca and High Noon.  Johnson and Howard speak very quickly, and are very verbose

Brief Encounter was made in 1945 and it is an England which looks to have a escaped the war. 

 The book is an adaptation of a play from the 1930s  There is a scene with two soldiers who are causing a scene at the bar. The England we see is carefree, tidy and very middle class. The children debate over whether to attend the pantomime or the circus. One does see a model toy of a spitfire

Celia Howard and I say this without malice looks older than her current counterparts 

She looks rather like Keely Hawes I think. I note that Howard has drawn on eyebrows. Which is a current fashion I do not care for 

The story is simple a married woman and married man- meet by chance and have an affair. At least of the heart. They are stopped  from consummating the relationship by happenstance and swear themselves off to fidelity

Coward's wit shines through. We are only middle aged once. I think he does not get enough credit for the well observed ending. Not with a bang not even with a whimper. 

The use of Dutch angles is obvious here in one of the final scenes it works very well.