Yes, I know it won nine Oscars including best picture, I still didn't like it. Set during the close of World War II and told in flashback, a badly burned man on the brink of death tells his story. Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas start up an affair. When her husband finds out in his devastation he tries to kill them all.
I don't like cheating celebrated as "very romantic." Ok, fine, it might be an interesting film to look at, but I hated the main plot. The secondary plot did catch a little of my attention. His nurse, Juliette Binoche, hears his story as she tends his wounds. I wanted to know more about her and her life.
Libary: DVD; North Bend. VHS; Coos Bay, Dora, Lakeside & Myrtle Point
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116209/
Amazon: The English Patient (Miramax Collector's Edition)
An egotistical "great white hunter" macho man nearly dies while his wife and native people try to nurse him back to health. In his melancholy he laments his past relationships. Though I do love Gregory Peck I just couldn't get into this film. Even for 1952, the sets looked cheesy and the plot meandered like a drunken sailor. Best to avoid.
Library: DVD; Bandon, Coos Bay, Coquille and North Bend. VHS; Coos Bay, Dora & Powers.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045162/
Amazon: The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Dreary story of a man who can't seem to get his act together with his lovely wife. Set just after World War II, Van Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor hook up and get married and have a daughter. He tries his hand as a literary genius but fails miserably. It's not even Taylor's best work, best to find something else.
Library: DVD; Bandon & Coquille. VHS; Powers. Also inside 2 colelctions called Elzabeth Taylor in Bandon and North Bend.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047162/
Amazon: The Last Time I Saw Paris
Two generations fall in love inside one house during different World Wars. A wealthy man invites an orphaned young girl into his family. His daughter so resents her she tries to drives a wedge when both her brothers falls in love with the girl. We know neither hooked up because the old man telling the story deeply laments his experiences when his neice comes to visit.
She has her own love affair with the nephew of the girl. She nurses his hand after it's badly burned. I don't think the title fits the dreary sad film. Very little felt like a fairy tale. Not even charmer David Niven could save it.
Library: Bandon.
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040321/
Amazon: Enchantment
It was unconscious on my part that most of these have a World War II setting. I guess I find war rather dull.
A married Deborah Kerr hooks up with Van Johnson when her husband neglects her. When they're caught in a bombing she thinks her lover is dead and promises god she'll stop cheating if only he'll let her beloved live. He's very confused when she breaks off their affair and he follows her around, even going so far as to hire a private investigator.
We see her vacillate between having faith that what she did saved his life and questioning all faith. Seems like a religious film couched in a love story. How about we don't cheat because it's just not fair to our spouse? Ah well, it did make me think a bit. Still, I'd suggest passing on a viewing.
Library: Bandon (there is another version with different actors that I haven't yet seen. )
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048034/
Amazon: The End of the Affair
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