Thursday, January 21, 2021

THE ASTONISHED HEART

THE ASTONISHED HEART (1949). Director: Terence Fisher.

"The capacity to love is stronger in some people than in others and it's dangerous to deny it or to encourage it -- for the wrong reasons."

Put on film four years after Brief Encounter, this play was probably meant to look at infidelity from the husband's point of view instead of the wife's, but it is no way in the league of Brief Encounter. Psychiatrist Christian Faber (Noel Coward, pictured) treats patients who are tormented by affairs then winds up having one himself with an old friend of his wife's. The wife, Barbara, is played by Celia Johnson, who also appeared n Brief Encounter; the other woman, Leonora, is played by Margaret Leighton. Although there are some good scenes and interesting dialogue in the movie, it is generally much too talky and Coward proves (in this at least) a much better writer than actor. His performance as the husband isn't terrible but it's often stilted and passionless, and one can't imagine what on earth the very pretty and vivacious Leonora would have seen in the comparatively boring Christian. Johnson and Leighton are more on the mark. The film's final moments are bolstered by Coward's own heavy scoring, and the last scene is somewhat poignant. Coward's observations about married life and love are often on the money, but the framework is just too insufficient. As for director Terence Fisher, he had better luck with some of his zesty Hammer horror films some years later. 

Verdict: Watch Brief Encounter instead. **1/2.

4 comments:

  1. Have never seen this one but a few others of Coward on film, and he is rather stilted! Much better writer than actor, though I always enjoyed listening to records of his music, he did a nightclub act in the 50s that was very entertaining. Brief Encounter is good, true, but it is hard to warm to Sir Noel in that one as well.
    - Chris

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  2. Well, I think he was only the voice of the train station announcer in that one, but it's been a while since I've seen it -- Trevor Howard was the male lead, and it was just as well that Coward didn't insist on casting himself!

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  3. Of course, he wasn’t even in that one! Has been a while!

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  4. Don't worry -- you won't believe the number of times I've been absolutely convinced someone was in a movie and it turned out to be Sonny Tufts, LOL!

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