SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Martin Bradley Mervyn LeRoy probably wasn't the right man to direct "Waterloo Bridge"; the film's producer, Sidney Franklin, would almost certainly have made a better job of it. It's a remake of the 1931 weepie about the ballet dancer who, thinking her soldier lover is dead, turns to prostitution...as you do, I suppose. Here she's played by Vivien Leigh, fresh from her success in "Gone with the Wind", but it's a bad performance; she's let down both by her material and by her director.Robert Taylor is the soldier, (apparently he's meant to hail from Scotland though you would never guess it), and he's a little less wooden than usual while that croaking frog Maria Ouspenskaya is the ballet mistress. As was so often the case back then the great Lucille Watson walks off with the picture as Taylor's mother and Joseph Ruttenberg richly deserved the Oscar nomination he received for his black and white cinematography. Perhaps not surprisingly this 'women's picture' was a huge hit and was remade again as "Gaby" with Leslie Caron as the dancer. It's watchable and mildly entertaining but it's certainly not the classic its reputation might suggest.

jc-osms I watched this film on the recommendation of a friend and wasn't disappointed. Although the main action is told in an extended flashback set in civilian life during the First World War, the bookending of the movie with Robert Taylor's middle-aged army colonel's long reminiscence on Waterloo Bridge of the love of his life is set in present day 1939 just after the outbreak of World War 2, making it one of the first films reflecting the new, even more devastating conflict. That said seeing the characters in contemporary clothing and hair-styles you might be forgiven for thinking it is a WW2 movie but one shouldn't forget the likely underlying aim of the film to interest and influence the watching American public on the side of the British as they initially stood almost alone against the German Army so perhaps the familiarity engendered was deliberate.There is no military action in the film however although the fact of Taylor's Captain Roy Cronin being an army officer does otherwise play a big part in proceedings, as it's a bomb raid which first throws he and Vivian Leigh's ballet dancer Myra together where they immediately spark and fall in love. Their whirlwind romance sees him attempt to marry her before he's posted overseas in two days only to be thwarted in this by his posting being brought forward a day. An unforeseen consequence of this is that Leigh loses her placing with the ballet corps which employs her, falling foul of the tyrannical old Madame who runs the company for missing a performance by rushing elsewhere to see Taylor off. Although she's accompanied in this departure by her rebellious friend and fellow-dancer Kitty (played by Virginia Field) who resigns herself in support of Leigh, when they find no work elsewhere for either of them, they resort to the oldest profession to survive, becoming streetwalkers, ironically to services personnel. Sure the plotting is highly melodramatic and the ending despairingly sad, but with two excellent star turns, fine supporting work by the rest of the well chosen cast and polished direction by Mervin Le Roy it's a very satisfying entertainment and must have been even more so to its original wartime audience.I've occasionally let my perception of Robert Taylor be clouded by the unsavoury part he played during the Communist witch hunt in Hollywood immediately after the war ended but he's undoubtedly handsome, charming and sincere here while the camera which so loved Leigh in the glorious technicolour of the immediately preceding "Gone With The Wind" continues its affair with her here in black and white. She really did have a most expressive face as we see her character run the gamut of emotions as her fortunes rise and fade time and again.Most impressive for me though was the skill with which it was directed by Mervin Le Roy. As well as helping the film leave behind its theatrical origins and keeping the occasionally improbable narrative going, there are lovely touches of flair exhibited which had me purring with pleasure. Some examples would be the dolly shot which picks out Taylor from the crowd at the train station, another high tracking shot of the pair dancing away from the crowd at a party to a private balcony, the dramatic focus on Leigh's face as she makes her fateful choice on Waterloo Bridge (I wonder if Hitchcock remembered it for Grace Kelly's trial scene in "Dial M for Murder") and the couple's first rapturous, silent dance together by candlelight. There's even a very modern shot with a double close up of Field and Leigh with the one in the foreground out of focus.All in all, a really fine film the like of which as the cliche has it, they don't make anymore.

calvinnme ... and I can hardly ever say that about precode films remade in the production code era.The original Waterloo Bridge starred Mae Clarke and was considered a pre-code, with more stark portrayal and language about the heroine's fate. Although this 1940 version was under the heavy hand of the censors, I still like it just as much as the original version. Basically we have a young woman who believes the man she loves is dead and has no way to survive but the world's oldest profession. It's not a fate she chooses, just one that she has to choose in order to eat. Yet society judges her although nobody gives her an alternative.Everyone remembers Vivien Leigh for "Gone with the Wind", but I think that this film and "That Hamilton Woman" are truly her best performances. The romance and chemistry between her and Robert Taylor is genuine, and just adds to the tragedy of the entire film, and then there's the final scene - which I can't tell you about without spoiling it for you. Just let me say that one piece of jewelry and one line spoken in remembrance makes the film complete.

a-singer This script desperately needed another revision.After learning that Britain has just declared war on Germany in 1939, the movie opens with an aged army officer driven through London to catch a train in order to sail to France to begin fighting in WWII. He seems a solid chap, and he turns out to be Robert Taylor, who orders his driver to detour his route to Waterloo Station by going via Waterloo Bridge. We learn this man fought in WWI. He's a hardened soldier. He stops at the bridge and calmly reminisces about a woman. He even has a small good luck charm.Utter nonsense. As we learn by the end of the movie, the man loved the woman in a tragic, miraculous romance. No soldier would cheerily allow himself the indulgence of "fondly" thinking about something that came to such a horrible, tragic end. This movie is a heart-render, a tear-jerker of the first order. Your guts get cut out. No man would want to relive this. A soldier would simply close the door of his memory and blot it out of his mind just like he would a horrible battlefield experience. Yet Taylor with a bit of a smirk goes and daydreams on the bridge about a woman who he one time said he will "love forever". The bulk of the movie is seen through this flashback contrivance which has you gritting your teeth with annoyance five minutes into the picture.That's your opening. A tragic twist of mistaken identity causes the crisis in the movie. Our heroine Myra (played by the astounding Vivian Leigh - more on her in a moment) learns of the tragedy as she is just about to meet her future fiancé's mother. Myra is in shock and comes off badly with the future mother-in-law, who is very gracious and still hopes that the two can one day be "good friends". Fast forward to the climax of the movie, where Myra is wrestling with the results of the tragic twist. She seeks out the future mother-in-law, who again has said that she knows that the two of them will be "good friends." But in Myra's time of need - in great crisis - the mother-in-law DOES NOT act like a good friend; she DOES NOT take her years of experience and guide young Myra through her crisis. She stands idly by like she just met someone at the library. Either take out the multiple references to "good friends" - OR - have her act like a good friend! Total failure of vision. The mother is a fine full character until the moment of crisis and then she becomes a cardboard cut out, leaving us alone in agony waiting for the destruction of Vivian Leigh. No movie with such a sequence can be a 10.Hence the movie gets an 8.On the plus side is the incredibly beautiful Vivian Leigh bathing us in a large array of emotions via her heavenly face. Her beauty is striking. And the emotions that shine through that beauty make them all the more powerful. She walks the line of frailty trying to become strong with great grace. Taylor, who always seems to be aping that annoying Errol Flynn "what, me worry?" positivism, has found the perfect role here for his talents and dispositions. His optimism about his new fiancé', his instantaneous love, only serve to remind us just how beautiful Myra (Ms. Leigh) is. It underscores the miracle of the movie: if YOU were to randomly meet Vivian Leigh in a bomb shelter, wouldn't YOU fall in love with her? Those things do happen in life, and having them happen with Ms. Leigh makes them especially precious. Once you get swept up in the miracle, the movie sails away and takes you on a fine ride - until the crisis, and a good friend acting badly.The beginning, the ending, the lucky charm are all incredibly weak and annoying. But in the middle is a fine film and perhaps Ms. Leigh's greatest performance.