Love Story

Had heard of this movie, more particularly with concern to its music but my first opportunity to actually watch it was last night when ABC showed it as a early hours of the morning item, which coincided with a does of my insomnia.

One shudders to think that Hollywood may have done with this, as the premises of the skyline would so easily lend to laying on the melodrama and clichéd sentiment with a trowel. Thankfully, British understatement, be it in direction and performance, makes this an effective and tasteful exercise.

The musical motif, the Cornish Rhapsody, is possibly being the most famous legacy of this film. It was one of a number of series of rather similar quasi- piano concertos from British films of that era that found a place in the musical memory. The most noted of these being the Warsaw Concerto. I was interested to read an earlier post stating that it was Harriet Cohen who played the piece, as I did have a thought that it may have been a job for Eileen Joyce.

this is the first film i saw more then 50 years ago..it was the first british film shown in montreal after the war in 1945...I would like to see this film again..but it is not showing on t.v.and they dont'have it in the video store..the music I have never forgot..a memorable film ..a great love story ..it made me a fan of stewart granger..margaret lockwood and patricia roc.

This film shows Stewart Granger's acting to great effect. Tom Wall's Yorkshire accent slipped into posh English at times but was very nice to listen to. Scenery superb and made me want to go stand on those rocks and look at that clear water.

The English films of this time - with a few exceptions - are stunningly awful, as this relic reminds us.

Packed with derivations from films that weren't any good in the first place (DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT, BEETHOVEN'S GREATEST LOVE) we get the studio-with-location-insets romance of classical pianist (wouldn't you know) Margaret Lockwood, who is not quite as awful as she would be in her post war efforts, and soon to be blind (he practices walking in mine shafts !) Stewart Granger, which inspires her to go riding in Pony Carts singing traditional numbers then pushed by the radio and composing the Cornish Rhapsody, in which she entombs the sound of sea gulls and breaking waves.

Never convincing and never throwing up appealing fantasies, this twaddle just offers a complacency which disturbs in its historical context. Despite it's attempts at high gloss, it's also remarkably drab.

In giving Love Story 6 stars I am very conscious that I am judging it by today's standards rather than the standards of 1944 when the film was released. Soppy and melodramatic it may be, but nevertheless there there is a lot to enjoy and appreciate in it. I was particularly interested in the Cornish setting, with some quite spectacular coastal scenery which is well photographed in black and white. Margaret Lockwood is excellent as dying pianist Lissa, but I'm afraid I found Stewart Granger very hard to swallow. Someone else described him here as wooden and supercilious and I can only agree. The supporting cast are all very good and in the background of the story is WW2, which at the time of the film's release was still in full swing. As a piece of romantic escapism I can imagine it would have been very popular with British audiences who were carrying on with a stiff upper lip and enduring terrible privations and the constant fear of death,,either their own or that of loved ones. The music, Herbert Bath's Cornish Rhapsody, is memorable and very well played. Something of a curiosity, it is well worth a look.