A beautiful movie about books and friendship

loreta

loreta

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Here's a beautiful film based on an excellent little book about books and friendship. And about correspondence, in the days when people wrote letters and the post office was very professional, after the Second World War. I really liked the book, which I read a few years ago, and even cried at the end, so moved was I by it. And it's rare for me to cry when I read a book, it's a feeling that has to do with time, the passing of time, and perhaps also with something we experienced in another life. The fact is that the film is excellent, of a simple beauty, very close to the book, so you can see the film before reading the book, the film is made like a mirror and is very moving for those who love books and friendship. It's a film that warms your heart and does you good. And the lead actors are excellent, Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.

It's also a very vintage film, and it's good to see this era, just after the war, objects that no longer exist, old books, a beautiful bookshop....

What's more, the film is on YouTube! Incredible. But I've noticed lately that it's possible to watch good movies on YouTube.

The movie:


The book:


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That's a great movie choice, haven't seen it in years, I'll watch it again later in the week. Interestingly, Charing Cross Rd in London is legendary for its vintage book stores in real life. It's been a while since I've been to London, but back when I was an undergraduate I used to head down there quite a bit.

The film does hark back to a vanishing time of written correspondence, more formal manners, and more subtle emotional tendencies. Thanks for sharing @loreta, it'll be a nice gentle stroll down memory lane for me to see this again.
 
Interesting, this movie has popped up on my YouTube, so am glad you posted about it. I am cautious about watching things recommended by YT - as they like to push 'agendas'! I watch a lot of old movies on YT - there are tons of them and the best part is that the older they are, the less likely to have any woke nonsense. They are actually quite refreshing. Will look through my history and mention any that I really enjoyed.
 
annp said:
Interesting, this movie has popped up on my YouTube, so am glad you posted about it. I am cautious about watching things recommended by YT - as they like to push 'agendas'! I watch a lot of old movies on YT - there are tons of them and the best part is that the older they are, the less likely to have any woke nonsense. They are actually quite refreshing. Will look through my history and mention any that I really enjoyed.
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I hope you will enjoy the movie that's really good. Here is more information about the film:

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones, and starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Mercedes Ruehl, and Jean De Baer. It is produced by Bancroft's husband, Mel Brooks. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself is an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff — a compilation of letters between Hanff and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. Several characters who are not in the play were added for the film, including Hanff's Manhattan friends and Doel's wife Nora.​

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The film garnered mainly positive reviews from critics, as well as receiving numerous industry awards and nominations. Bancroft won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Hanff. Additionally, Dench was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Whitemore for Best Adapted Screenplay. Dench has said that 84 Charing Cross Road is one of her favourite films in which she has appeared. The film has become something of a cult classic among bibliophiles and epistemophiles.​

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In 1971, New Yorker Helene Hanff is on an airplane heading for London. She is on a promotional tour for her book 84 Charing Cross Road which is about her 20-year correspondence with a secondhand bookshop specializing in out-of-print books. By the time she arrives in London, the book shop has permanently closed, but she still visits it. To the sound of hammering and a builder's radio, Hanff recalls the first letter she wrote to the shop in 1949.​

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As a flashback, at a bookstore in 1949 in New York City, Hanff seeks obscure British literary classics and notices an advertisement in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop, where chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests. Over time, a long-distance friendship develops between Hanff and Doel and also the other staff members; even Doel's wife corresponds with Hanff. In gratitude for their extraordinary service, Hanff begins sending small gifts: holiday packages and food parcels to compensate for post–war food shortages in Britain. Their correspondence includes discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the coronation of Elizabeth II.​

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I did not continue because I don't want to give a spoiler.

As I said, I cry when finishing the book, that is a little book, no more than one hundred pages but oh, what a beautiful one hundred pages! And I have to say, I cried at the end of the movie. So take Kleenex if you are a sentimentalist like me. I cried so much that I look like a Madonna. And then I laugh at myself. :-D
 
annp said:
I am cautious about watching things recommended by YT - as they like to push 'agendas'!
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I have seen this also! An old move popped up recently for me, titled "The Killer That Stalked New York" from 1950. The description said "Police seek a smuggler while doctors, unaware she's the same person, desperately comb unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier." So we watched it. It was interesting, with good actors, but it was heavy on propaganda for vaccination.


 
SevenFeathers said:
My library doesn't have the book, but I'll see if they can borrow it from another library somewhere.
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I am reading the book again, he is a short book, I started yesterday and will finish it today. The book and the movie are a good team, really. They complemented one of the other, really well. I wish you good luck in finding the book, and then... maybe the movie? :-)
 
Ok, I just finished the book and I didn't cry this time. But yesterday I cried so much, seeing the movie, a real Madonna as I said. How can you have so many tears coming from who knows where? Fortunately now we know that crying is good, and that tears are full of vitamins.

It's mysterious how a literary work works in its own way. And this film is a literary film. Literature opens the pores of your skin, literally.
 
@annp Do you have a subscription to the YT channel or watching regular YT? (paying or not paying)

A similar movie with writing, war, love, past lives, and a mystery. try this one:

 
Adobe said:
@annp Do you have a subscription to the YT channel or watching regular YT? (paying or not paying)

A similar movie with writing, war, love, past lives, and a mystery. try this one:

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I read the book that I love it. I will try to find the movie. Thank you! :flowers:
 
loreta said:
Here's a beautiful film based on an excellent little book about books and friendship. And about correspondence, in the days when people wrote letters and the post office was very professional, after the Second World War. I really liked the book, which I read a few years ago, and even cried at the end, so moved was I by it. And it's rare for me to cry when I read a book, it's a feeling that has to do with time, the passing of time, and perhaps also with something we experienced in another life. The fact is that the film is excellent, of a simple beauty, very close to the book, so you can see the film before reading the book, the film is made like a mirror and is very moving for those who love books and friendship. It's a film that warms your heart and does you good. And the lead actors are excellent, Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.

It's also a very vintage film, and it's good to see this era, just after the war, objects that no longer exist, old books, a beautiful bookshop....

What's more, the film is on YouTube! Incredible. But I've noticed lately that it's possible to watch good movies on YouTube.

The movie:


The book:


View attachment 87653
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I saw this many years ago. Its wonderful!
 
Adobe said:
@annp Do you have a subscription to the YT channel or watching regular YT? (paying or not paying
Click to expand...
I am paying for YT, much as I loathe google, I watch YT enough that it’s worth not being annoyed by commercials. And I can download videos.
 
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