Waterloo Bridge

Beautifully performed for the screen by Vivien Leigh ("A Streetcar Named Desire", "Gone With The Wind"--her two Oscars)-- as Myra Lester, a fragile ballerina --and Robert Taylor ("Quo Vadis", "Ivanhoe") as Roy Cronin, a young Captain in the Rendleshire 'Broken Lance' Fusiliers, whose chance meeting at Waterloo Bridge amidst an air raid during World War I sets the stage for this tear-jerker of a movie. Very good supporting roles came with Lucille Watson as Lady Margaret Cronin--Roy's mother;her best scene was when she and Myra first met at the restaurant, trying to understand Myra's strange behavior. Maria Ouspenskaya as Madame Kirowa, true to form playing the 'old dragon and broomstick.' Virginia Field as Kitty, Myra's true friend and roommate, who unfortunately eased her towards the wrong side of the street, upon learning (wrongly, as it turned out) of Roy's death. And Sir C. Aubrey Smith as the Duke, Roy's uncle...the quintessential Englishman from his backbone to his stiff upper lip, (he was knighted and made an OBE) giving off that quiet gentility and confidence.

Beautiful and poignant scenes abound in this film: --Roy and Myra's dancing together to the "Auld Lang Syne Waltz" while looking at each other tenderly without any spoken words before he leaves for France....Myra's efforts to hide her inability to accept the news of Roy's death, which she just saw in a newspaper article and bravely trying to suppress her anguish while in front of Roy's mother when she joins her for tea....the prologue and epilogue where Roy, now an aged and gray general, going back to Waterloo Bridge, remembering his lost love, as he hears again her affectionate and tender voice: "I loved you...I never loved anyone else..I never shall..." accompanied by Herbert Stothart's poignant musical score.

The movie gives a fleeting glimpse of the British class system (which according to many experts, the Second World War eventually destroyed). But one thing though..I was able to visit London recently and among other places like Bond St., Belrose Square, I was able to go down Waterloo Bridge (formerly the Strand Bridge). It still has that magnificent sight all around it but for one thing: you would not think that street walkers would ply their wares over there; it's too cold and windy. But then, the setting of the movie was more than 80 years ago, and 1940's movie goers couldn't care less. After all, who needs sum and substance when there's a war on. We of the present generation are also ready to believe and be convinced and captivated. For anyone who has loved and been loved, experienced happy and lasting love, or even the pangs of unrequitted love...and most of all, of star-crossed love...this is a movie to see.