Waterloo Bridge 1940

     In the beginning of WWII, a British Officer visits Waterloo Bridge and he thinks about how young he was at the beginning of WWI.  He met a young ballerina just before he left for the front.  They tried to marry before he left but his leaving was changed to an earlier date.  Myra and Roy fell in love immediately and she raced to see Roy off at the train.  Just was just able to wave goodbye.  When she missed the performance, Madam Olga Kirowa fired Myra and also her friend Kitty when she stood up for Myra.  Now they don't have jobs, they can't get jobs and how will they eat plus pay the rent?  Myra goes to a tea shop to meet with Roy's mother.  His mother is late and Myra reads in the paper that Roy is dead.  The meeting with Lady Margaret does not go well and Myra is nearly incapacitated by the news.  She can't possible tell the news to Lady Margaret.  Myra and Kitty meet men in the evenings and that is how they eat and pay the rent.  Suddenly, the war is over and Roy has returned!!  He wasn't dead after all but just wounded.  Myra doesn't know what to tell him or what to say.  She goes with Roy to his family home and she decides she can't tell Roy and she can't marry him either.

     There is another film with the same plot and title from 1931 with Mae Clarke, Douglass Montgomery and Doris Lloyd.  I saw this film first and I was very moved by the story.  I wanted to see which film was better?  I think this version is better because of the acting of Leigh and Taylor?  In February Leigh's marriage to Leigh Holman ended in divorce.  She married Laurence Olivier after he was divorced from Jill Esmond.  In 1945, Vivian's life began to unravel.  She had two miscarriages, contracted tuberculosis and was diagnosed as a manic depressive.  Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that can spread from person to person through microscopic droplets released into the air.  It takes six months of treatment to be cured of tuberculosis.  The first reliable treatment was used in 1945.  Leigh had a nervous breakdown in January, 1958.  Her final film was a small part in Ship of Fools 1965 and she died at the age of 53 after a severe bout of tuberculosis on July 7, 1967.

     

108 min, Drama directed by Mervyn LeRoy with Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field, Maria Ouspenskaya, C. Aubrey Smith, Janet Shaw, Janet Waldo, Steffi Duna, Virginia Carroll, Leda Nicova, Florence Baker, Margery Manning, Frances MacInerney, Eleanor Stewart.

Note:  Rotten Tomatoes 80% critic 89, Letterboxd average 3.7* out of 5*, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 162 reviews, Imdb 7.8* out of 10* with 8265 reviews, silverpetticoatreview.com 5* and romance 4*, timeout.com 5*, vivandlarry.com A rating.

Special Note:  Filmed in London and Somerset, England, UK; Chico and MGM Studios, Culver City, California; Somerset and Strathclyde, Scotland.  This was Robert Taylor's favorite of his films.  This was also Vivien Leigh's personal favorite.  The title is somewhat obscure in Hollywood but one of the most popular in China.  It is especially popular with college students, there are audio guides for students to practice their English with the dialogue from the film.  The popularity may be because Gone with the Wind 1939 is also very popular and Vivien Leigh also stars in this film.  The premiere was the same day that Rotterdam was bombed by the German Luftwaffe.  The British Royal Air Force began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940.