Review of Hanover Street

6/10
Old-fashioned romance fulfills its potential
14 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A very familiar John Barry score accompanies this war time romance between an American pilot and a British nurse. Writer/director Peter Hyams takes us back to London, 1943, where the chance meeting between these two pawns of World War II begins what can only be a doomed love affair.

Lt. David Halloran (Harrison Ford), Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down) and husband Paul Sellinger (Christopher Plummer) are the three caught in this tragic love triangle. Ford fits well into the role of reluctant hero, and actually manages to create some chemistry with his co-star (at least he doesn't look twice her age - "Sabrina" 1995). Miss Down is easy to like as the married mother who finds herself falling in love like she never has before, and Christopher Plummer plays well the part of the husband and father who just wants to shake his feelings of inadequacy and prove himself to be more than a 'nice British man'.

These three, along with a strong tech. team, are able to pull off what is essentially a run of the mill, old fashioned romance. A nice idea from Hyams, but he was never going to achieve anything more than pleasant entertainment. Fortunately he never aims too high, and thus avoids shooting the whole thing down in flames. Hyam's knew his pic's potential well, and fulfils it.

John Barry's music is enjoyable and melodic, David Watkin's photography most sharp and the editing from James Mitchell is efficient. Special effects are effective.

Wednesday, February 28, 1996 - Video
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