‘Hanover Street’ (1979)
This film has very little going for it, other than the participation of Plummer and Ford. I honestly wanted to like it, given my respect for Hyams and many of the actors, but this just fell flat, in so many ways.
First, Lesley-Ann Down: has she ever managed to be the romantic lead in a WWII picture that didn’t end up being a piece of made-for-TV garbage? I say this after having tried to watch her in ‘Arch of Triumph‘ (1985) with Anthony Hopkins, a remake of a project with ‘Casablanca’-level ambitions that simply fell flat; this remake hardly improved upon the 1948 version. In ‘Hanover Street’ Ms. Downs’ performance certainly wasn’t enhanced by the flat dialogue and her wholly unsympathetic character: The woman is cheating on her husband, plain and simple, without explanation or cause. A stronger actress would have demanded a better backstory for this character, some ‘Sophie’s Choice’ or ‘Plenty’ content to make her more fathomable, but this round-heeled wife of a British Intelligence officer (Plummer) is nothing but a liability. If she was able to be ‘picked-up’ by Ford as easily as she does in this film, her character would have been victimized by a German Agent, long before she encountered Ford. This film tries hard to be a romantic something-or-other, but this woman’s got a kid and no obvious conflicts of interest with husband Plummer. That’s one raspberry, right there.
As for the schizophrenic element, about 2/3rds the way through, Hyams tries to turn this thing into a War film – Ford and Plummer go behind enemy lines together into Vichy France [Read more →]