The End of the Affair **** (1955, Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, John Mills) – Classic Movie Review 832

Director Edward Dmytryk makes the mistake of turning one of Graham Greene’s finest novels into a conventional Hollywood-ised romantic potboiler.

Ideally cast Deborah Kerr is excellent as the wartime wife Sarah Miles who suffers Roman Catholic guilt over her extra-marital affair – though she has never been a believer – with writer Maurice Bendix (Van Johnson). So then she makes a pact with God that she will never see him again to save his life during the London Blitz.

But there’s no on-screen chemistry as Johnson has no rapport with Kerr as her lover. And, though well cast Peter Cushing as her husband Henry and John Mills as Albert Parkis, the private detective investigator whom the jealous Johnson hires to follow Kerr, both look a bit stranded by Lenore Coffee’s far-from-ideal screenplay and dialogue.

But, unfortunately, it’s the pale, wan performance from Johnson that is the film’s main weakness. Kerr’s performance is the film’s main asset and there are good turns too from some of the character actors, with Stephen Murray making a strong impression as the priest.

Remade in 1999 by Neil Jordan, with Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea.

Kerr’s performances in From Here to Eternity, An Affair to Remember, Black Narcissus, The Innocents and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp are unforgettable and legendary.

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http://derekwinnert.com/the-innocents-classic-film-review-504/

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 832

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