Not part of a collection.
The Passionate Friends
Their affair took on a life of its own.
A woman is torn between the love of her life, who's married to someone else, and her older husband.
- Original title
- The Passionate Friends
- Language
- EN
- Country
- GB
- Budget
- $350,000
- Revenue
- $225,000
CinemaSerf
Jul 9, 2022 · via TMDB
Ann Todd puts in quite a strong performance in this quite sensitively presented drama as "Mary", a lady contentedly if not ecstatically married to financier "Howard" (Claude Rains). One afternoon she bumps into "Prof. Stratton" (Trevor Howard) and that rekindles memories of a pre-war romance. When her husband has to go to Switzerland on business, she accompanies him and yes, you've guessed, she encounters "Stratton" again - though this time her husband spots her distress when they part and she is rumbled. This is another solid effort from David Lean that allows the performances to develop at their own pace; the characters each have flaws and strengths and his adaptation of this lesser known HG Wells story is quite a poignant and characterful look at how the choices we make evolve and change over time. The title is a bit misleading - for passion is really the one thing that is truly absent throughout, but Rains and Howard - two distinctively different style of actors work well as the foils to Todd's uncertain and needy "Mary" who is probably far more excited by the idea of love rather than actually experiencing or enjoying it. I could have done without her narration - it distracted me from an otherwise superior drama that is certainly a delight to watch, if not necessarily one with characters to admire.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Criterion Channel
Amazon Video
Ann Todd
Mary Justin
Claude Rains
Howard Justin
Trevor Howard
Prof. Steven Stratton
Betty Ann Davies
Joan Layton
Isabel Dean
Pat Stratton
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Lawyer
Arthur Howard
Smith - the Butler
Guido Lorraine
Hotel Manager
Marcel Poncin
Hall Porter
John Serret
Emigration Official
John Bryan
Set Designer
Guy Green
Director of Photography
George Pollock
Assistant Director
David Lean
Director
Eric Ambler
Producer
Ronald Neame
Producer
Richard Addinsell
Original Music Composer
David Lean
Adaptation
H. G. Wells
Novel
Eric Ambler
Screenplay
Ole
Into Temptation
Forgiveness
The Working Man
The Great Escape
Harvest for the Heart
The Royal Tenenbaums
A Time to Kill
The Fisher King
Champion
Dead Man Walking
Away from Her
The Window
Samaritan Girl
After Everything
He Got Game
Sex and the City
Eric LaRue
Lili Marleen
Gangster No. 1
The White Masai
The Apostle
Jean Valjean
William Tell
The Boat Is Full
The Eiger Sanction
Secret Agent
Heidi
Downhill Racer
Listen to the Voices
The Palace
What Remains
War in the Highlands
Letters To Daniel
After All This Time
Terminal
The Face of the Faceless
Hiatus
The Spiritualization of Jeff Boyd
The Journal
The Common Courtesy
FORUM
Fragments
All Saints Day
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
I Still Believe
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Secret: Dare to Dream
The Magic of Ordinary Days
All That Heaven Allows
An Autumn Romance
Flamingo Road
Peter Ibbetson
Pride and Prejudice
The Fugitive Kind
Magnificent Obsession
The Lost Husband
Mansfield Park
Two for the Seesaw
Kitty Foyle
Lovely, Still
Désirée
The Sleeping Dictionary
Strangers When We Meet
Love Finds You in Valentine
Departure
Racing with the Moon
Tim
A Perfect Ending
My Brilliant Career
The Golden Bowl
The Truth About Emanuel
May 17, 1949
