WATERLOO BRIDGE
(M.G.M.)
OUGH the. censor has graded Waterloo Bridge as "A" entertainment, I do not feel that I can go one better. It is not Al cinema. but. on
the other hand, it is not C3. In spite of being a prettified re-emake, with a theme of almost Edwardian conventionality-it is actually a tragedy of convention-the film is something better than the average. For this, M.G.M. and Mervyn Le Roy are in debt to Vivien Leigh, As the woman who crucifies herself on a point of honour, the ballet dancer devenue cocotte, she handles an exacting part unusually well. It is a sordid tragedy of the hectic days of 1914-18. The young ballet dancer meets and falls in love with a youthful captain in a County regiment. Within a day of their meeting he is cecalled to France. She is discharged from the ballet for missing a performance to see him off, and when her money has almost gone his death in action is reported. Convention prevents her appeal- |
ing to his people, she cannot find work (an unconvincing point, surely?) and, practically starving, she takes to the streets. The dramatic conflict arises when the young officer comes home again --a lost identity disc had led to the false report-and the girl has to decide whether to marry or renounce him. Her renunciation and subsequent suicide are the dramatic highlights of the film and Vivien Leigh acquits herself well. The suicide, which occurs when she throws herself beneath a truck on Waterloo Bridge, is well handled by the star, the director and the photographer-and sound is here used most effectively-but many film-goers will note a strong resemblance to the similar scene in Anna Karenina. On Robert Taylor’s performance, I would hazard the opinion that tragedy is not his metier; possibly he was included because of his following, C. Aubrey Smith worthily upholds his inimitable Four Feathers tradition, and Maria Ouspenskaya looks just like Maria Ouspenskaya. Waterloo Bridge is, as I have said, a conventional story and it is told conventionally. The direction is competent but rarely more than that. Still, if you plan to take your wife to see it, it might be as well to take an extra handkerchief,
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410711.2.35.1.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 107, 11 July 1941, Page 17
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371WATERLOO BRIDGE New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 107, 11 July 1941, Page 17
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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