Brief Encounter
Year: 1945
Director: David Lean
Cast: Celia Johnson , Trevor Howard , Stanley Holloway , Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond.
Set Locations:
Northern England: Carnforth Station in Lancashire remains to evoke all those emotional farewells.
Noel Coward's 1945 production of 'Brief Encounter' was turned into a work of genius with the help of director David Lean . It is the romantic tale of Laura, a middle-class Englishwoman, who meets a stranger at a railway station and becomes tempted by the attraction existing between the two of them. The man in question is a married doctor and the film focuses on the love that begins to draw them together, as well as the morality that keeps them apart. It is this sense of morality which the English middle class (at least publicly) felt was their sacred charge at the time the film was made. The tension between the desire and the moral code is one of the key factors that have led to the longevity of the film's appeal.
Laura Jesson is played by Celia Johnson and Alex Harvey, the doctor, is played by Trevor Howard. The acting is powerful, despite this being Trevor Howard's first starring role. Lean's directing is masterful, conveying the tense atmosphere by using the shadows of the subway passages, punctuated by harsh burst of light from the platforms.
Most of the film is shot at Carnforth Railway Station in Lancashire. First opened in 1846, this charming station has been made famous by the filming of Brief Encounter, almost 100 years later. It is a popular destination for the many fans of this classic film, with the station clock being a powerful icon used throughout the film. Carnforth itself is a small town at the north-eastern end of Morecambe Bay . The town grew due to the ironworks and the railway, having been a major junction between three lines. It is an ideal location for anyone exploring the area, being just to the south of the Lake District National Park and more or less due east of the Isle of Man. The Lake District has long been popular with tourists and literary fans alike, who enjoy its lakes and fells in the same way that William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets did in the early 19th century. The Isle of Man is a quite unique island. It is a self-governing crown dependency, most famous for the annual Isle of Man TT races but also boasting a rich history and beautiful countryside and beaches.
The urban scenes, which formed much of the remainder of the film, were filmed in Denham, Beaconsfield (near Denham Studios) or in London. Denham studios were eventually merged with Rank's Pinewood Studios and closed down in 1952. The site is now home to a business park, Broadwater Park
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