Aurora Australis Just watched this almost forgotten masterpiece on Gem, Australia's free-to-air digital channel. I'm reeling from the fact this British production was made in 1952 - seven years after the war ended. It must have shocked many people of my grandparent's generation, who fought the Nazis in WWII. Gunther tells Nicole, 'There is no war, only you and me.' But is that truly possible? Her father has been executed by the Nazis. Members of my family - civilians - lost their lives at Japanese hands during the invasion of Rabaul in January 1942. If I had been in the same situation as Nicole, could I have fallen in love with a Japanese officer through a shared passion for say ... T'ang era poetry? I very much doubt it. I visit Japan often, I love Japanese culture, but it's impossible to forget what happened to my family in Rabaul. 'Forgive, but never forget girl,' as my 92 year old great-uncle said to me not long before he died.So ... on one level, So Little Time is about a profoundly ethical question: is it treason to love one's enemy during war? On another, it is about the most fatal kind of fatal romance: when enemies fall in love. Both parties know it will end badly, but ... the heart wants what the heart wants. Was it Plato who said love is a kind of madness? For that reason Schell and Goring are compelling and believable as Nicole and Gunther - particularly Goring, who struggles with his feelings for Nicole. The film also makes it clear that like many Wehrmacht German officers at that time, Gunther perceives himself as a professional soldier, not a Nazi. We realise this in the final scene.I was deeply moved by this film. It helped me to understand why so many women fell in love with German soldiers during the occupation of France etc during WWII. Gunther is bloody sexy! Until I watched So Little Time, I don't think I really understood, because my family's experience in New Guinea skewed my judgment. Unless we are in that situation, we don't know what we would do - except hope that reason would prevail.

Leigh Oats (Warning: Some viewers will be disturbed that the following words of mine aren't exactly a review, and they start on-topic but then go tangential for a while.)For the record: Even as I peck at my keyboard now, Australia's digital television channel Gem is showing the original undamaged English-dialogue version of _So Little Time_ (Gem's timetable labels it as a "premiere", whatever that means). Thanks, Nine Network—you're a jewel for visiting some dungeon of a vault to grant brief parole to this engrossing movie.BTW-1: Barbara Mullen's Anna brings to my mind's eye and ear BM's Janet MacPherson, who in all 191 (! but not as many as _Wagon Train_) episodes of the BBC's black-and-white television series _Dr Finlay's Casebook_ between 1962 and 1971 keeps house for Andrew Cruickshank's Dr Cameron and Bill Simpson's Dr Finlay. Now, _that's_ a gem that seems to have disappeared from the world's living-rooms. If we can be fed umpteen black-and-white episodes of _Wagon Train_, enjoyable enough though they are, then perhaps we should also be prescribed at least one repeat dose of television's first series of A J Cronin's classic tales from Arden House in interbellum Scotland.BTW-2: _So Little Time_ seems to evade the radar of Leonard Maltin, but not of Halliwell.

jutta-dreesen First i am happy to find a lot of people who are so fond of this film like me!Since years I try to get it in the original English synchronized version,because the German synchronized is,except M.Schell ,with strange and silly voices and stiff dialogs.I am so much interested in hearing the real voice of Marius Goring,and I cannot understand,why he did not speak the German version himself,although he did speak so fluently and without an accent!Both main actors are extremely good in this film ,and all the others too,to my opinion.Iwould be very happy,if I could get an English DVD ,but to get it in Germany is nearly impossible!! Jutta Dreesen

nelder This movie has haunted me since the day I saw it in August of 1955. I have never had movie stick in my mind like this one. I would love to have a video of it and have never seen in anywhere and I always look for it. Cannot believe that it has not been put out for purchase. My husband (who since passed away) and I often discussed it in years following our seeing it. It impressed him as well, so I know it isn't just a "woman's sentimental" memory. It remains my favorite Maria Schell movie to this day!