Hanover Street (1979)

Absolutely the worst movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I knew this was a romantic movie upfront, but the WW2 stuff seemed interesting enough to take a look.I must say that I watched the whole thing through, and it kept my interest. Its pretty predictable, but the characters stay rather true to themselves, and although the ending is predictable, its not necessarily obvious.I will give credit for the locations/effects. The film never looks cheesy, and you can tell that effort was made to be authentic. It certainly is a war movie, there is blood and gore aplenty, not Saving Private Ryan gory, but enough to remind you this is war.The movie has 2 parts, the romantic story in England, and then the adventure part in France. This split makes the movie go by rather quickly, I was kinda surprised this was not one of those WW2 miniseries that were so popular at the time.I can't say that I would overwhelmingly recommend this movie, but if something about it strikes your interest, one of the actors perhaps, or in my case the setting of WW2, then I would check it out.

It can't have been easy to have a cast of charming highly competent actors,charismatic warplanes,a bitter - sweet romance in war - ravaged picturesque London and turn the whole lot into a turkey of a movie but Mr.P.Hyams managed it in "Hanover Square". He wasn't helped by a script that may have passed muster at the Odeon, Streatham in 1942 for a less than critical audience never sure that their house would still be standing by the time the movie was finished,but more peaceful and plentiful times were rather more demanding. Mr C.Plummer plays the upper middle class Intelligence Officer whose wife (Miss L.A.Downs) has an affair with USAF officer(Mr H.Ford). Apparently Mr Ford is so irresistible to Miss Downs that they have sex in a conveniently situated country hotel on their first date,an event so unlikely as to be almost incredible.Yes I know it's wartime,and I know things were different,but believe me nicely brought up English gels with husbands and daughters most definitely did not "put out" as our American friends would say on their first illicit meeting with a virtual stranger,even if he is an intrepid birdman. Indeed Miss Downs is so irredeemably posh that I am not entirely convinced that Mr Ford does not classify as her bit of rough. She is a voluntary nurse - albeit one with an immaculate uniform and beautifully - coiffed hair.She walks the wards as a Lady Bountiful and I'm almost convinced the Sister refers to her as "Lady Margaret" at one stage. Her husband is in some "hush - hush" department running secret agents and they live in a very upmarket Townhouse somewhere around the Harley Street triangle.Their daughter (little Miss P.Kensit) is a cute poppet and everything in the marital garden appears lovely.Why she should risk all this for a quick tumble with a not particularly winning American bomber pilot is not clear.It certainly isn't for his conversation ,his monotonous tone of voice or his sense of humour. By contrast Mr C.Plummer is gentle,articulate and sensitive. In a ridiculously contrived plot twist he and Mr Ford end up in occupied France wearing German uniforms on a Deadly Mission. On their return Mr Ford nobly lets Miss Downs go back to her husband and is last seen loping across Hanover Square doubtless in pursuit of a fresh conquest. Women with husbands at the front in 1942 would not have been sympathetic towards her,the word "Jezebel" might well have been bandied freely about They knew all about temptation and resolutely resisted it if only for the sake of their men in foreign climes.The thought of a posh woman with a husband at home having it off with a Yank would have filled them with scorn.And quite rightly too. As for that young pilot.....well,he could probably hardly have believed his luck.

I used to say, no good movies came out of the 70's, that was until Stars Wars and then Hanover Street, of which this review is about. I loved the movie the first time I saw it and watched it again today for about the twentieth time. I have no problems with Leslie-Anne Down's looks nor the B-25s . And Mr. Ford's hair? Really! The play's the thing and Hanover Street is a good one. In fact it's so good I will be showing it in my theater next week to friends who have never seen it. I loved David Halloran's smart-aleck-without-being-obnoxious manner. It fit in the absurdity of war. Drama-Action-Romance-in an intelligent script - who could ask for anything more? I'll take more of Director/Writer Hyam's stuff. And, the ending was great, great, great!!! And the score was phenomenal and beautiful! I liked this movie and especially recommend it to the ladies. Be sure to grab the tissue box, although, maybe that should be tissue boxes.

"Hanover Street" is the kind of movie people like to pick apart because the SS Sgt. didn't render the proper Hitler salute or the uniforms were wrong or because the B-25 wasn't flown over Europe but mostly in North Africa. Well, I imagine the B-25 sets were left over from Catch 22, which used B-25s, and there was a shortage of SS uniforms at Elstree Studios when this movie was filmed. It doesn't really detract from the film. These are bits of entertainment -- not a masters level thesis. I have to say this is an "adult" movie that probably wouldn't be made today. If filmed today (late 2005), then there'd be a lot more emphasis on wise-ass remarks to the commanding officer and silly, stilted lines like "If I lost you then I'd just die ... oh I'd just die." Pretty much along the lines of 2001's awful Pearl Harbor. The love story is really more about honor and sacrifice than love, and reflects closely wartime England when many single, and probably married, English women dashed off with "heroic" Yanks -- which gave way to the British saying about Americans: "Over paid, over sexed and, bloody well, over here." There's a lot of action in this movie and a lot of tension that builds up at the right moments. Is it a big, blockbuster movie like "Raiders of The Lost Ark?" No, but it's got a good script, the cinema-photography is outstanding and the score is perfect. Aside from Catch 22, there's not a lot of places you can see REAL B-25s lining up for takeoff in a film (sorry, again the Pearl Harbor CGI doesn't cut it for me) and the fear-laced banter between Ford's bomber crew seems closer to the real thing than the heroic bull from other movies. If there's a gripe I've got about this film it's Ford's haircut. You can see a lot of detail and expense in the Hanover Street set, the Blitz and even the airfield. Everybody looks up to 1940s standards and the set has that smoke-filled, perpetual autumn look that seems to be what people associate with early color films from the World War II era. However, Ford's 1978 shag kind of ruins the mood. Maybe he couldn't cut his hair because "Empire Strikes Back" was due to start lensing soon after "Hanover Street" went into post production ... who knows, but it detracts from the detail paid to the extras and the set. Still, "Hanover Street" is a good film.