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(Review originally written at 31 July 2009)

It's quite a shame that the love story, that forms the heart and center of the movie comes across as so unlikely and poorly. David Niven and Kim Hunter are just not a very likely couple, that already fall in love before they have even seen each other. Had it worked out, the movie would had been a truly effective and gripping one and among one of the best from its era.

The movie still remains a very successful one as an imaginative movie, that knows to put in a lot of originality through its creativity. It's a creative written and directed movie, that combines some fine, impressive visuals, with an original and also sort of thought provoking story.

The movie got written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who, especially in the '40's, did some very successful British movies together. The movies are not as well known now days but they still live on as classics.

It are above mostly the visuals that impress within this movie. They know to successfully combine the best of early Technicolor with good old fashioned black & white. The movie also uses some impressive sets and visual effects, which is all the more impressive when considering that this movie got made back in 1946.

David Niven is truly one fine actor and he is also great in this movie but still he is a bit miscast. He is supposed to a young charmer guy that is in his late 20's and still in the prime of his life. Niven is however an actor who has always looked like he was in his 40's or 50's, even when he was 30 or 60 years old. It's also really hard to believe that a young girl like Kim Hunter would fall for such a guy. Roger Livesey who played the main characters previously in the other Powell and Pressburger movies "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" and "'I Know Where I'm Going!'" plays one fine role within this movie. I always liked him as an actor, also because of his voice and strangely enough he never broke through. Later in his career he got mostly stuck with playing in TV-series.

The movie offers some great light fantasy entertainment, that because of its originality and approach alone is already worth watching.

8/10

About Frank Veenstra

Watches movies...writes about them...and that's it for now.
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