Based on Robert E. Sherwood's 1930 stage play and the Pre-Code 1931 film of the same name, Waterloo Bridge was remade here in 1940 with (in my opinion)--mixed results.
At the beginning of World War II, Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor), now an elderly army colonel, recalls his days as a young captain on leave in London at the beginning of the First World War in an extended flashback. Quite by chance he meets Myra Lester, a ballet dancer (Vivian Leigh), which marks the beginning of a whirlwind romance lasting a couple of days before Roy must return to the front in France.
The romance between the two is quite engaging marked by some really smart dialogue. We get to see how Myra must cope with the tyrannical Madame Olga (Maria Ouspenskaya), the ballet troupe head who forbids her from having any contact with Roy. The dashing captain obtains permission to marry from his uncle the Duke (C. Aubrey Smith), a high-ranking army officer, who assents to the union.
Due to certain laws of the time, the couple is rebuffed from marrying after 3pm and must return the following morning to get hitched (I am not sure if such a law existed in reality). By then Roy must leave for France, and Myra only is able to wave goodbye as his train pulls out after she's caught in traffic on the way to the train station. Defying Madame Olga's orders, Myra loses her job at the ballet along with her best friend Kitty (Virginia Field)
This is where the rest of the narrative becomes problematic. Myra and Kitty supposedly are unable to find work in wartime London and Kitty decides to work as a prostitute to support them (due to the Production Code, the word "prostitution" is never mentioned and her activity as a "fallen woman" is only subtly alluded to).
Soon afterward Myra too decides to become a lady of the night. We're asked to buy the idea that the women cannot find any legitimate work when most of the men are away at war and women often found jobs formerly held by men at this time.
Then there's the issue how Myra seemingly learns of Roy's death. She sees his name under the list of those declared dead. But in the absence of a body, usually the army will list such soldiers under the heading of "missing in action." Still the mistake could have occurred-albeit unlikely--as it does here.
But when Roy's mother Margaret (Lucile Watson) arrives at a restaurant to meet Myra, she doesn't mention that she's learned of Roy's death, seemingly because she doesn't want to upset her future mother-in-law. But would a normal person have kept such information from her fiancé's mother? After all she will soon be finding out about it anyway.
What's more when she found out about Roy having been killed, wouldn't it have been prudent to at least inquire into the circumstances? Perhaps she would have learned there was still some hope because it indeed may have been a case of "missing in action."
Once Roy and Myra are reunited and Roy eventually learns from Kitty that Myra took up as a prostitute, I was hoping he would say it didn't matter to him. Echoing his mother's promise to Myra to keep her secret, Roy tells Kitty he expects never to find Myra after she disappears-the implication is that he has a premonition that she will take her own life-and that of course is what she does.
The production code demanded Kitty had to commit suicide as she was now a "fallen woman." And probably if there was such a person who lived during those times, it's quite possible that she would have decided to take her own life. Myra instinctively realized she would no longer be allowed to be a part of Roy's family as they were of upper-class stock and would not have tolerated Myra's "faux pax" no matter what the circumstances were. Therefore Mrs. Cronin agreed to keep Myra's "secret."
I didn't like Waterloo Bridge's downbeat ending--not because I didn't think such a thing couldn't happen. Rather it's because I don't believe a "nice girl" like Myra would have turned to prostitution. I just don't believe that both she and Kitty could not have been able to find employment given their backgrounds.
Robert Taylor is pretty good as the dashing suitor, but the use of his American accent compromised the film's overall verisimilitude. Vivian Leigh is especially good in the first half of the film especially where her character hints of sad things to come (Roy's admonition to her not to be a "defeatist" foreshadows Myra's underlying fatalism).
But Myra's transformation into a hopeless, guilt-ridden sad sack took the sheen off Leigh's performance in the first half of the film. Despite holding my interest, Waterloo Bridge unfortunately cannot recover completely from its downbeat denouement.
At the beginning of World War II, Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor), now an elderly army colonel, recalls his days as a young captain on leave in London at the beginning of the First World War in an extended flashback. Quite by chance he meets Myra Lester, a ballet dancer (Vivian Leigh), which marks the beginning of a whirlwind romance lasting a couple of days before Roy must return to the front in France.
The romance between the two is quite engaging marked by some really smart dialogue. We get to see how Myra must cope with the tyrannical Madame Olga (Maria Ouspenskaya), the ballet troupe head who forbids her from having any contact with Roy. The dashing captain obtains permission to marry from his uncle the Duke (C. Aubrey Smith), a high-ranking army officer, who assents to the union.
Due to certain laws of the time, the couple is rebuffed from marrying after 3pm and must return the following morning to get hitched (I am not sure if such a law existed in reality). By then Roy must leave for France, and Myra only is able to wave goodbye as his train pulls out after she's caught in traffic on the way to the train station. Defying Madame Olga's orders, Myra loses her job at the ballet along with her best friend Kitty (Virginia Field)
This is where the rest of the narrative becomes problematic. Myra and Kitty supposedly are unable to find work in wartime London and Kitty decides to work as a prostitute to support them (due to the Production Code, the word "prostitution" is never mentioned and her activity as a "fallen woman" is only subtly alluded to).
Soon afterward Myra too decides to become a lady of the night. We're asked to buy the idea that the women cannot find any legitimate work when most of the men are away at war and women often found jobs formerly held by men at this time.
Then there's the issue how Myra seemingly learns of Roy's death. She sees his name under the list of those declared dead. But in the absence of a body, usually the army will list such soldiers under the heading of "missing in action." Still the mistake could have occurred-albeit unlikely--as it does here.
But when Roy's mother Margaret (Lucile Watson) arrives at a restaurant to meet Myra, she doesn't mention that she's learned of Roy's death, seemingly because she doesn't want to upset her future mother-in-law. But would a normal person have kept such information from her fiancé's mother? After all she will soon be finding out about it anyway.
What's more when she found out about Roy having been killed, wouldn't it have been prudent to at least inquire into the circumstances? Perhaps she would have learned there was still some hope because it indeed may have been a case of "missing in action."
Once Roy and Myra are reunited and Roy eventually learns from Kitty that Myra took up as a prostitute, I was hoping he would say it didn't matter to him. Echoing his mother's promise to Myra to keep her secret, Roy tells Kitty he expects never to find Myra after she disappears-the implication is that he has a premonition that she will take her own life-and that of course is what she does.
The production code demanded Kitty had to commit suicide as she was now a "fallen woman." And probably if there was such a person who lived during those times, it's quite possible that she would have decided to take her own life. Myra instinctively realized she would no longer be allowed to be a part of Roy's family as they were of upper-class stock and would not have tolerated Myra's "faux pax" no matter what the circumstances were. Therefore Mrs. Cronin agreed to keep Myra's "secret."
I didn't like Waterloo Bridge's downbeat ending--not because I didn't think such a thing couldn't happen. Rather it's because I don't believe a "nice girl" like Myra would have turned to prostitution. I just don't believe that both she and Kitty could not have been able to find employment given their backgrounds.
Robert Taylor is pretty good as the dashing suitor, but the use of his American accent compromised the film's overall verisimilitude. Vivian Leigh is especially good in the first half of the film especially where her character hints of sad things to come (Roy's admonition to her not to be a "defeatist" foreshadows Myra's underlying fatalism).
But Myra's transformation into a hopeless, guilt-ridden sad sack took the sheen off Leigh's performance in the first half of the film. Despite holding my interest, Waterloo Bridge unfortunately cannot recover completely from its downbeat denouement.