Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

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

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jacobs-greenwood This original version of the Robert Sherwood play is quite different than the more famous MGM remake starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. The story is more efficiently told, and without flashbacks, such that this film is nearly half an hour shorter.It was directed by James Whale, and the screenplay was written by Benn Levy and Tom Reed. The most notable aspect of this movie is Mae Clarke's terrific performance as the conflicted streetwalker Myra Deauville; Kent Douglass aka Douglass Montgomery is pedestrian as the soldier from a wealthy family she meets, Roy Cronin, who's unaware of her (oldest) profession.Whereas the later film version of the play has Myra and Roy meet and fall in love before she turns to prostitution, as her only means of support, after she's been led to believe that he's died in the war, in this one they meet after the former chorus girl had already been walking the streets for a couple of years, with friend Kitty (Doris Lloyd). Myra meets Roy on the titled London bridge during an air raid while both help an old woman (Rita Carlisle aka Carlyle) to the safety of a shelter. They then spend some innocent time together in her shabby apartment, interrupted by her landlady Mrs. Hobley (Ethel Griffies), who'd earlier asked for Myra's back rent. Naive Roy sees Myra as an out of work chorus girl who's just down on her luck, but she refuses to take advantage of his innocence, is insulted by his offer to pay her bills, and even throws him out, before they reconcile briefly and he leaves on friendlier terms.Roy is only nineteen, and even though he's no longer under the illusion that the war in France is a fun adventure, he's still worlds away from the weary realist that Myra has become. In their brief time together, Roy fell hopelessly in love with Myra and he pursues her with flowers and a new pink dress she'd mentioned in that prior meeting. Neighbor Kitty emboldens Roy's savior complex, and plants the seed that all Myra needs is a (wedding) ring. Later, Roy tricks Myra into visiting his family's estate in the country, where she reluctantly meets his mother Mary (Enid Bennett), sister Janet (Bette Davis), and father-in-law Major Fred Wetherby (Frederick Kerr). Ruth Handforth plays Augusta, their maid. Roy's family welcomes her with open arms but Myra's guilt about "what she is" causes her to tell Mary that she's not really a chorus girl. The next day, it's clear that Mary hasn't told the others what Myra had shared about her life. Finding herself still accepted among Roy's family is too much for Myra and, still feeling unworthy, she flees back to London by train.Myra is conflicted, she tries but can't seem to go back to doing what she always had. Roy returns to Myra's apartment in London, but finds only Mrs. Hobley, who tells him what he didn't know about the woman with whom he'd fallen in love. But still, he searches for her. Myra successfully avoided Roy until she can't help but try to glimpse him as his regiment meets to leave for the front on Waterloo Bridge. He sees her and makes her promise to marry him when he returns. An air raid begins just as the troop truck has driven away, and Myra is killed by a bomb dropped from a German Zeppelin (in lieu of Leigh's suicide) as the film ends, her monogrammed purse and white fox fur lay on the pavement.

TheLittleSongbird Comparing the 1931 and 1940 versions of 'Waterloo Bridge' reminds one of comparing the 1940 and 1944 versions of 'Gaslight'. In that the earlier version is well in the shadow of the later version, but despite being different films and having elements done better in the other both are very good to great in their own way.It is hard to say which is the superior version to me, while leaning towards the more lavish and more visually polished and glitzy later version this version, which is grittier and more steamy whereas the later version is more romantic and tamer (which may be a disappointment to some), is also very good in its own way. Bette Davis, despite still being good, does have little to do in a very early role (safe to say that she did go on to better things), but more problematic is the somewhat erratic and abrupt ending, granted there is emotional impact but the outcome just seemed also too random and contrived.However, while not as lavish as the 1940 film it is a beautiful-looking film with plenty of atmosphere, the cinematography being one of the film's highlights. James Whale's impressionist-like direction also conveys a compelling realism and ensures that atmosphere and momentum is always consistent. Uncredited Val Burton's music score is lush and sometimes haunting, while there is a very intelligent script and a story that's genuinely emotional and intriguingly ahead of its time.It's driven also by the pivotal chemistry between Mae Clarke and Douglas Montgommery (or Kent Douglass), which is depicted beautifully here and some great acting. Doris Lloyd, Frederick Kerr and especially Enid Bennett give priceless supporting contributions, and Douglass' inexperience does not show in a surprisingly naturalistic turn that neither overstates or underplays the naivety, but it's the astonishing and quite heart-wrenching performance of Mae Clarke that's most unforgettable, genuinely reducing me to tears on several occasions.Overall, while this version of 'Waterloo Bridge' is in the shadow of the later version, it is just as good and well worth checking out. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . and gives lie to the PRETTY WOMAN fantasy. WATERLOO BRIDGE shows us that if a Rich Guy from America's or Canada's One Per Cent was seriously interested in an impoverished hooker, Fate would go out of Its way to drop a bomb on her head. Teenager Roy is the One Per Center featured in WATERLOO BRIDGE. In one of Biology's great miscues, his cerebral cortex develops just as tardily as that of a street-sweeper's son. Roy's immature Gray Matter prevents him from being able to distinguish a Lady from a Tramp, or from caring about the distinction when someone finally spells it out for him. Strumpet Myra makes the Fatal Mistake of toying with Roy's Innocence, when she is morally obligated to straighten him out as to her status of being a sadder-but-wiser gal from the get go. Such effrontery from a common street walker might be excused if Myra was dallying with a drunken and dirty old man, but NOT with a Rich Young Lad whose step-dad's Alzheimer's prevents him from telling Roy about the Birds and the Knees. Myra grows increasingly discombobulated while leading this young whippersnapper down her well-trod garden path. Just as Roy cannot marry Trigger, he can't be allowed to wed Myra, either.

mark.waltz During the early days of talkies, abridged version of classic novels and plays made it to the screen at an alarming rate, from classics like "Jane Eyre", "The Scarlet Letter" and "Oliver Twist" to this, the film version of Robert Sherwood's play. Many of them are dismissed because of their cheap production values (made at poverty row studios) and because of their more elaborate remakes. In the cast of the original "Waterloo Bridge", the original is actually pretty good, and remains an obscure gem because of its director, the artistically brilliant James Whale.Mae Clarke, "the grapefruit girl", is believable as the troubled Myra, the former chorus girl who becomes a prostitute before falling in love with a soldier from a fine family. She certainly not as glamorous as Vivien Leigh who played the role in MGM's much more lavishly produced 1941 remake. The fact that she's less than a picture perfect beauty suits the part well and she comes off successfully in her favor. Douglass Montgomery (billed as Kent Douglas) is a winning handsome hero, while Enid Bennett as his mother, a very young Bette Davis as his supportive sister and Frederick Kerr as his alcoholic uncle offer fine support. Nicely photographed and edited simply to get to the point of the basic structure of the plot, this might not please purists, but for depression era audiences, it must have been a thrill. It certainly still can leave a lump in your throat as the tragic conclusion approaches.