GusF Based on the 1981 play by James Roose-Evans which was itself based on the 1970 memoir by Helene Hanff, this is a superb tale of the friendship that arose out of a mutual love of books. The film concerns the almost 20 year correspondence between Hanff, a New York-based lover of English literature, and the staff of the antiquarian bookshop Marks & Co. in London, in particular its chief buyer Frank Doel. Although it began as a purely professional arrangement, the correspondence eventually blossomed into a very close friendship between Hanff and Doel, even though they never actually met in person. Hanff also enjoyed long distance friendships with the rest of the staff but none of them were on the same level as that which she shared with Doel. The film does not have a plot per se, being primarily concerned with its characters and the small details of their lives as opposed to the major events thereof. In order for such films to work, the writing has to be very sharp and, perhaps even more importantly, the characters in question have to compelling and/or sympathetic. To that end, I am glad to say that I found this film to be fascinating, engrossing and at times very moving. It has a perfect script by Hugh Whitemore who, by relying on the source material, was able to paint a vivid and authentic portrait of the two central characters. The film is very well directed by the prolific theatre director David Jones, who is able to very effectively contrast the various locales of London and New York. In this sense, the direction goes hand in hand with the script, which nice explores the difference between British and American cultures.The film stars Anne Bancroft in a wonderful performance as Hanff, an initially fairly impoverished script reader living in a small apartment in Manhattan who is attempting to further her education through the acquisition of out of print editions of British classics as well as more obscure books. One that sparked my interest in particular was The Idea of a University by Cardinal John Henry Newman. Cardinal Newman founded the Catholic University of Ireland, the predecessor of my alma mater University College Dublin. Hanff is equipped with an occasionally caustic wit but she is a lovely person who cares about others deeply. She has a tendency to tease the staff at Marks & Co. when they are not very prompt in fulfilling one of their orders but she regularly sends them gift packages of items such as meat and eggs, which were still rationed in Britain when the correspondence began in 1949, in gratitude for all of their efforts. It is a very kind gesture that goes above and beyond the call of duty. Hanff eventually gets a job as a scriptwriter for "The Adventures of Ellery Queen" and receives a salary of $200 per episode, which is increased to $250 after a while. She had intended to use this money to travel to London for the Queen's coronation in 1953 but the fact that she requires extensive and expensive dental work put paid to that idea. She finally makes it to London in 1971, by which time Marks & Co. has closed down.Bancroft's "Young Winston" and "The Elephant Man" co-star Anthony Hopkins is excellent as Doel, who grows equally fond of Hanff over the course of two decades. Taking them at face value, they would seem to have little in common as he is a somewhat shy, naturally quiet and reserved man whereas she is a live-wire. Their friendship grows out of their shared love of books but it is not confined to that as their letters cover a wide variety of topics from Yorkshire Pudding to his love for Tottenham Hotspur and hers for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He becomes more open in his writing and does not hesitate to tell about his wife Nora and their daughters Sheila and Mary. Over time, they become best friends and each is perhaps the greatest friend that the other ever had. When Doel finds out that she is not coming over in 1953, he is quietly devastated as he had longed to meet her. In January 1969, Hanff discovers that Doel, whom she nicknamed "Frankie," died of peritonitis the previous month and she breaks down crying in a beautiful scene. It is clear that not travelling to London and beginning a more conventional friendship is one of her biggest regrets, not least because she previously told him that she thought that he understood her better than anyone else. It is a tribute to the great skill of both Bancroft and Hopkins that the evolution of Hanff and Doel's friendship is presented in an entirely believable manner. There is a great chemistry between them even though they never appear together on screen.The film has a small but strong supporting cast. Judi Dench does not have a big role but she is nevertheless excellent as Nora, who becomes friends with Hanff herself but admits after her husband's death that she was occasionally jealous of their close friendship. This is best illustrated in a tense dinner scene in which Doel avoids making eye contact with her Nora, who looks at him somewhat bitterly. In spite of this, however, she is never depicted as being an unsympathetic character and there is an clear but understated sense of love and affection between the couple. The nature of the film means that no one other than Bancroft, Hopkins and, to a lesser extent, Dench has a chance to shine but I also impressed by Maurice Denham (in one of his final film roles), Mercedes Ruehl, Ian McNeice and Eleanor David.Overall, this is a marvellous film which is able to communicate the joy of reading far more effectively than I would have thought possible through this medium.

padres01 How could any flick with Ann Bancroft and Sir Anthony Hopkins be anything but good? ... This film is simply one of my favorite films of all time. The story, script, character development, acting ... everything about this film is A-One. Even the support performances are excellent. I could watch this film over and over again and never get sick of it.Bancroft is at her seasoned best in this movie. She is funny, smart, and attractive. So many people remember her only as "Mrs. Robinson," but she is so much more than that, and this film really shows how good she really was. The world is a sadder, darker place without her in it. She will go down as my favorite actress of all time.This movie is quietly brilliant. That's all I can say. You have to watch it to believe what I'm saying. It's just ... lovely.

James Hitchcock Charing Cross Road is a street in central London, running between Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street. (Rather confusingly, Charing Cross Station does not actually lie in this street). It is a centre of the London book trade, renowned for its bookshops (Foyles being the most famous), selling both new and second-hand books. 84 Charing Cross Road was the address of the antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, although the firm no longer exists. (The building, which now bears a different address, is today a restaurant).Helene Hanff's book "84 Charing Cross Road" was one of the unexpected publishing successes of 1970, even though it is only a compilation of letters passing between Miss Hanff herself and Frank Doel, the manager of Marks & Co. The book was later turned into a play, which in its turn served as the basis for this film.The story is a simple one. In 1949 Helene Hanff, a voracious reader of all types of literature ("except fiction"), is unable to find a number of classic works of British literature in her native New York City. She notices a newspaper advertisement placed by Marks & Co and in desperation writes to inquire if they can supply any of the missing titles. Doel writes back to say that they have most of the books in stock. Hanff continues ordering books from the company and over the years her relationship with Doel evolves into a long-distance friendship. They correspond about all manner of topics, not just about literature but about family matters and current events. Hanff cherishes the hope that one day she will be able to visit London and see the bookshop for herself, but she is unable to afford the fare until 1971, by which time Doel has died and the shop closed.Both the leading actors, Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins, are excellent. They dominate the film; all the other actors, including its third "big name" Judi Dench as Doel's wife Nora, have comparatively little to do. Hopkins is sometimes regarded in specialising in forceful, flamboyant or monstrous characters such as Hannibal Lecter or Captain Bligh in "The Bounty", but in fact he can be equally good as quieter, more restrained individuals, such as Dr Treves in "The Elephant Man", the butler in "The Remains of the Day" or C S Lewis in "Shadowlands", and Frank Doel is another similar character.And yet, despite the quality of the acting, this has never been one of my favourite films. When I read Hanff's book (admittedly a long time ago) it never struck me as a naturally dramatic story, so I was surprised when it was adapted for the cinema. The film's rather static nature betrays its origins in a stage play, and I was not surprised to learn that the director, David Hugh Jones, was a well-known theatrical director with little experience of working in the cinema. (This was only his second film).I think, however, that the fault lies not so much with Jones's direction as with the nature of his material. The eighties saw a number of distinguished adaptations of stage plays for the screen, such as Willy Russell's "Educating Rita" and "Shirley Valentine" or the Dustin Hoffman version of Miller's "Death of a Salesman". None of those dramas contain much in the way of physical action, but they do contain plenty of dramatic conflict, what might be called emotional action. There is nothing of that in "84, Charing Cross Road". Hanff's book is little more than a record of two nice people being nice to one another over a period of two decades. Although she can occasionally be sharp-tongued when a book she has ordered fails to meet her expectations, she is really very kind-hearted, something shown when she sends food parcels to Doel and his colleagues, suffering from post-World War II austerity, and he always comes across as the perfect English gentleman. Their relationship never generates enough dramatic tension to make this an altogether successful film.On a final note, I have never understood just why Helene Hanff found it so difficult to find the books she wanted. It might have been more understandable had she been living in a remote small town, but were New York bookshops in the forties and fifties really so badly stocked that they did not carry the works of such major British authors as Chaucer, John Donne, Pepys and Jane Austen? 6/10, largely for the quality of the acting.

screenman For me, this is the kind of movie that starts out as a curiosity, becomes familiar and finishes being loved. My relationship with it is very much like that of the characters depicted.It's simple enough; a feisty but struggling all-American New York single-woman discovers a British Bookshop in London that has the kinds of books otherwise unavailable in her home city. She begins a series of purchases by mail-order and an intimate if platonic relationship develops between herself and its staff.That doesn't sound very promising. There's no action. Nobody is murdered, there are no reckless car-chases, not a hint of pyrotechnics. Moreover; there is no great spectacle either, no sweeping wide-angle pans. Almost the entire story is contained within a stuffy Charing Cross Road bookshop and the scarcely less stuffy apartment of the American customer, with brief sorties into the stuffy homes and lives of the other characters.Nevertheless; this movie has STORY in spades. We get to explore the microcosm of the characters' private lives, and the result is a spellbinding experience.Ann Bancroft is perfectly cast as the demanding, emancipated New Yorker who won't take 'no' for an answer when it comes to having the books of her dreams. Anthony Hopkins plays the shop manager with the sort of undemonstrative reserve that has become his hallmark when not eating people. These two lead a cast of nicely chosen and believable individuals - including Dame Judi Dench - who fill-out the fabric of their story. A great deal of the dialogue is composed of narrative, being the two leads effectively reading out their letters to each other. It's a great ploy, because by their means the story can be slowed or advanced in any way which might suit the circumstances.The movie takes us on a developing relationship that lasts for years, predating WW2, and then ever onwards. Times change, fortunes flourish and decline; people come and go. Some die. It's a bitter-sweet slice of life, of how we accomplish what we can, but seldom realise our dreams and must surrender to - yet be reconciled with - the unremitting passage of time.This is a great movie about human life on a human scale. Simple, hopeful, but ultimately in vain, it's all of our lives in the end. Collectible and highly recommended.