Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Jonathon Dabell Still relatively new to the scene, Harrison Ford takes the romantic leading role for this remarkably old-fashioned wartime soap opera. For much of the film Ford looks plainly ill at ease, not all all suited to the slushy love story in which he is participating. Similarly, the director (action specialist Peter Hyams) finds the romantic aspects that dominate the first half of his film difficult to deal with. Instead of creating a convincing on-screen love story, Hyams overdoes things almost to the point of self parody, asking grand gestures of his actors and an absurdly overbearing score of composer John Barry. At the hour mark, there won't be many viewers left with the willpower to remain tuned in. But just as the film threatens to collapse completely, Hyams (who also wrote the film) suddenly shifts his narrative to something that he, and Ford, are much better at. The second half of Hanover Street redeems the film, as it drops the mock-romantic weepie approach and becomes an engaging escape melodrama.American bomber pilot David Halloran (Harrison Ford) is stationed in England during World War 2. One day during an air raid he meets a beautiful nurse, Margaret Sellinger (Lesley Anne Down), and the pair of them are instantly attracted to each other. Margaret is already married but her relationship with husband Paul (Christopher Plummer) lacks passion and excitement. She is, therefore, swept hopelessly off her feet by her romantic encounter. Halloran's devil-may-care attitude towards his dangerous occupation begins to soften now that he has something to live for, but he is still chosen to fly a British spy over enemy lines as part of a dangerous parachute drop. By the most incredible chance, the spy turns out to be Paul, taking on an audacious raid behind enemy lines in a bold gesture to win back the respect of his wife. When the plane is hit by enemy fire, Halloran and Paul are forced to bail out together deep in enemy country. In an ironic twist of fate, the unwitting love rivals become survival buddies, both relying upon the other to get out of the perilous predicament they are in. They have many adventures as they attempt to steal a document from the Gestapo HQ in Lyon and make it back alive to the woman they love.This is the only wartime film Hyams has made, and in the later stages he demonstrates a proficiency for the genre that makes one rue his decision to make the film in the mould of a tearjerker. If he had just gone for a full-on wartime thriller - something along the lines of Where Eagles Dare - he might have made a rather good film. Alas, the soppy opening hour cannot be erased from the memory, nor can it be forgiven, and it really does cheapen the whole effect of the film. Down performs quite well under the circumstances, trying hard (and with moderate success) to make her love dilemma involving even though the script defeats her with overwroughtness. But she is the only one who seems to give a damn during the first half - Ford looks totally desperate throughout this section, and Hyams simply lacks the finesse to make it work. Even Plummer cannot do much during the opening hour, his role reduced to that of a boring cuckold with a handful of scenes in which to make his mark. One thing that does work nicely throughout the entire film is the photography (by David Watkin), which captures the desired period feel rather accurately. To summarise, Hanover Street is shamelessly old-fashioned tosh in which the action bits are handled with infinite more conviction than the romantic ones.

gaynor.wild While the story is set in the context of world war 2, what it's really about is the difference between men who are now called 'alpha' and 'beta.' One is a brash, self-confident, risk-taking narcissist; the other is a high-achieving, highly educated, planner. Women often wish to marry the latter, and make love with the former. Ms. Down faces this issue.Overall, an excellent discussion, and depiction, of this particular kind of dilemma.The movie begins in London, with the American pilot (alpha) and the British nurse conning each other, trying to fake each other out for a place on a bus. This game is interrupted by v-2 rocket bombing, and a real, and intense, emotional bonding. Much later, the nurse's husband (beta) is introduced, and we discover he is a high-ranking official with the British military. The story develops from there, with a somewhat improbable pairing, and a spy mission. It is suspenseful, but is really a romantic drama.

Shelby Spires "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.

colin-barron One of my female friends once told she hated "Memphis Belle but she liked this film. It is not hard to see why. It is more of a Barbara Cartland style romance than an action adventure movie.One interesting point is that former RAF /USAAF airfield at Bovingdon was used for filming. It was previously used as the location for a number of air movies such as "633 Squadron","Mosquito Squadron" and "The War Lover". By the time "Hanover Street" started filming in 1978 it was disused and derelict so the aircraft were only filmed with very long lenses to avoid showing the background clearly.The film suffers from too many historical and technical errors to be taken seriously by WW2 buffs. For example there is a discussion about "light " and "heavy flak" which makes it clear that writer/director Peter Hyams thinks these terms refer to the number of guns employed whereas in fact they refer to the calibre of the weapons. For example a target defended by 100 x 20 mm guns is defended by "light" flak while a target defended by a single 88mm gun is defended by "heavy" flak.There is also a scene where the two heroes are pursued by a Hetzer tank destroyer,a vehicle whose only role is the destruction of enemy armour and would be singularly unsuited to the task of pursuing enemy agents.On the credit side John Barry delivers his usual excellent score.