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Synopsis
After a chance meeting on a train platform, a married doctor (Trevor Howard) and a suburban housewife (Celia Johnson) enter into a muted but passionate, ultimately doomed, love affair. With its evocatively fog-enshrouded setting, swooning Rachmaninoff score, and pair of remarkable performances (Johnson was nominated for an Oscar for her role), David Lean’s film of Noël Coward’s play Still Life deftly explores the thrill, pain, and tenderness of an illicit romance, and has influenced many a cinematic brief encounter since its release.
Picture 9/10
Criterion has put together a 4-disc box set representing the collaborative work of playwright Noël Coward and director David Lean, calling it David Lean Directs Noël Coward. The fourth and final film in the set, Brief Encounter, is presented here on a dual-layer disc in a new 1080p/24hz transfer in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1.
In association with ITV Studios Global Entertainment and StudioCanal the BFI conducted a vigorous restoration of Lean’s first ten films, with funding from the David Lean Foundation. These restorations were used for all of the transfers in this set and were supplied to Criterion by ITV. All of them look exceptional.
This title is actually a reissue and the only one in the set, previously released on DVD by Criterion in 2000 and Laserdisc in 1995. The DVD presented a nice enough image but there is no doubt this Blu-ray offers a substantial improvement. Detail and clarity is vastly improved upon, whether it be found in close-ups or long shots, and contrast looks far better with better defined gray levels and nice, deep blacks that create excellent shadows within the film. Film grain rendered far better as well, looking much more natural here, and the transfer doesn’t present any noticeable artifacts.
The print is also in much better shape—thanks to the new restoration—and damage is basically limited to fine scratches that are noticeable on occasion. There can also be a slight pulsating effect at times but it’s not overly distracting and none of this creates any issues, in turn delivering yet another stunning, film-like transfer, one of the best black and white ones I’ve seen.
Brief Encounter - Screen Captures
Audio 7/10
The lossless linear PCM 1.0 mono track presented here is probably the best one in the whole set and it’s probably just because the material is in better shape. With no noticeable background noise it delivers a sharp audio presentation with clear dialogue and the background Rachmaninoff score itself also comes off clean itself and rarely edgy. The belching train whistles that occur occasionally also come off clean and never harsh, an improvement over the DVD.
Extras 8/10
Each disc in the set contains its own set of supplements, with a few focusing specifically on the film contained on the disc. This review only concentrates on the supplements included on the disc for Brief Encounter.
Surprisingly Criterion didn’t create any new audio commentaries for any of the films on this set, but Brief Encounter was originally released on Laserdisc with an audio commentary by Bruce Eder, which in turn was ported over to the DVD and now the Blu-ray. I realize Eder’s commentaries aren’t loved by all but I’ve always found them entertaining and informative tracks. He has a format that he sticks to on all of his tracks and it’s no different here. Eder likes to talk about shots and the look of the film, along with the narrative structure when appropriate (as it is here with the film’s flashback setup) but he seems to enjoy talking more about a film’s production history and the careers of its cast and crew. He covers the film and its development, the working relationship between Lean and Coward, background information on its actors, the play on which the film is based, the film’s score, and so much more. It does sound as though he has prepared notes but his track never comes off bland or dry and he adds a great amount of energy which keeps the track from becoming a chore. If you like Eder’s tracks it’s worth a listen but if you’re not there’s nothing here that will change your mind.
Each disc in the set then includes an interview with Coward scholar Barry Day. This one runs 16-minutes and is probably where Day is at his most glowing. This film, as he states, marks where both Coward and Lean finally got used to film: Coward finally understood film structure and Lean understood he could convey so much with angles and framing. He talks about the play on which its based, Still Life, and points out some of the inside jokes found within the film, like the film-within-the-film title Flames of Passion, and goes over the casting of Johnson and Howard. As I stated with his other interviews found across the set Day is dry but manages to still keep his pieces engaging, offering a wealth of information and his own informative analysis.
A Profile of “Brief Encounter” is a 25-minute piece created in 2000 by Carlton Media, I assume for their own DVD edition. It presents interviews with various scholars and members of the cast and crew. It’s a pretty by-the-book making-of, starting with the early development process of the film, the adaptation, the casting, and then its release. Celia Johnson’s daughter, Lucy Fleming, appears to read writings by her mother recalling the making of the film. It’s a generic documentary and doesn’t offer any surprises really but it’s worth viewing for those interested in the film’s production.
The last big supplement is then David Lean: A Self Portrait, a 58-minute program made in 1971 featuring the director recalling his work. Only the first quarter of the piece covers the films in this set and even then it’s limited only to In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter, packed in with other films like his Dickens adaptations and Summertime. A good chunk of the piece instead concentrates on his bigger epics, most notably Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago. After talking about his early beginnings and the big breaks he got he then talks about his film career, the things he learned, how he directs a script, works with actors, and then goes into detail about location shooting and the costumes that appear in his films. He continues on about how he makes his films through the eyes of a “cutter”, already planning the edits in his head while shooting, all the while expressing his absolute love for the process of editing. Though again it has little to do with the specific films on this set it’s a wonderful reflection by the director and one of the best features on this set.
The supplements then conclude with the film’s theatrical trailer. The restoration demonstration found on the DVD hasn’t been carried over, but considering this disc has a completely different (and far more impressive) transfer it shouldn’t be a surprise it wasn’t carried over. The set also comes with a booklet with a number of essays, including one by Kevin Brownlow on Brief Encounter. The essay written by Adrian Turner for the Criterion DVD has not been included.
Of the set it’s the most loaded release in terms of supplements, the only one to offer an audio commentary. And though maybe the making-of is a little too by-the-numbers the supplements are all strong on their own.
Closing
This new Blu-ray for Brief Encounter is yet another stunning edition in Criterion’s David Lean Directs Noël Coward box set and possibly the best disc in it. It presents an absolutely gorgeous, very film-like high-definition transfer of the film and contains some wonderful supplementary material. This disc alone is a real selling point for the set.
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