DVD: The End of the Affair (1955)

I was pleasantly surprised by the tone of this adaptation of the justly famous Graham Greene novel. I expected it to be heavily bowdlerized, but despite only ever hinting at sex, the film comes across as strikingly adult, and poignant in its treatment of the themes of adultery, love, jealousy and religion.

The story is fairly faithful to its source, with one major exception: The character of Father Richard Smythe, here called Father Crompton and played very well by Stephen Murray (London Belongs to Me, Four Sided Triangle) is divided into two characters, the other of whom is an atheist, played by Michael Goodliffe (633 Squadron, The Gorgon). It's not entirely clear why the writer (Lenore J Coffe) decided to do this; perhaps as a foil to Kerr's newfound faith, although it seems unnecessary.

Among the cast, Deborah Kerr, Peter Cushing and John Mills acquit themselves excellently. Van Johnson is the weakest link, the poor man's Sterling Hayden, but the performance is adequate rather than bad.

One of the strongest aspects of the film is the photography and lighting by Wilkie Cooper (later more famous for lensing a string of Ray Harryhausen fantasies). Benjamin Frankel's score starts off like a pastiche of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, famously used in Brief Encounter a decade earlier, but settles down into a mostly unsentimental and often quite haunting style.

The London locations, including Hyde Park Corner and the elegant Chester Terrace (also the setting for Hammer's The Nanny, whose DVD release I look forward to immensely later this month), are a joy.

DVD

This is a first release for The End of the Affair on Region 2. It's a Sony release (originally a Columbia Picture), and it is the barest of barebones editions, without so much as a proper menu (see picture). It would have been nice to see a bit of an attempt to present the menu nicely.

To their credit, they have subtitled the film in both English and French, and (though not for me) dubbed it into several languages.

The print is very grainy, but the contrasts are great, serving the cinematography well.

Film: * * * * * (4/5)
DVD: * * * * * (3/5)

PS. If you enjoyed this one, check out Greene's The Heart of the Matter, also released for the first time last year.