Waterloo Bridge is a 1940 remake of the 1931 film of the same title.
The film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin and Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay is by S. N. Behrman, Hans Rameau and George Froeschel, based on the popular Broadway drama by Robert E. Sherwood. The music is by Herbert Stothart and cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. The film stars Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh, her first film after the success of Gone with the Wind.
A simple tale of love gained and lost, the film tells the story of a dancer and an officer who meet in a chance encounter on Waterloo Bridge. This initial encounter occurs during an air raid in World War I.
Waterloo Bridge was a success at the box office and nominated for two Academy Awards — Best Music for Herbert Stothart and Best Cinematography. It was also considered a personal favourite by both Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor.
Plot Summary
World War II has just broken out and a soldier stops on Waterloo Bridge to reminisce. The film then cuts to a flashback to World War I with the young soldier Roy Cronin (Taylor) who has stopped on the bridge. An alarm sounds signaling an air raid and a group of girls pause on the bridge, arguing about what they should do. They turn to Roy and he tells them they should find cover. One of the girls in the group, Myra Lester (Leigh), drops her purse in the road and dangerously retrieves it, along with her good luck charm. Roy chastises her and the two run for the underground.
Once in the underground, Roy and Myra talk together and Myra invites Roy to her ballet performance. Roy declines, stating he has a dinner with a colonel, and expresses his regret. They part as Myra gives him her good luck charm. However, he dismisses the colonel's dinner and attends the performance. Afterwards, he sends a note to Myra asking her to dinner. The note is taken by Madame Olga Kirowa (Maria Ouspenskaya). Madame Kirowa orders Myra to write Roy a note declining the invitation. Meanwhile, Roy is waiting anxiously for word and, receiving the letter, begins to walk dejectedly away. However, Kitty (Virginia Field) stops him and arranges the date for Myra.
Myra and Roy spend a pleasant evening together, ending with a kiss. As they part, Roy explains he is to return to the battle-front. The following day, Myra, dejected, looks out her rainy window and sees Roy standing beneath it. She runs to him and the two agree to marry. She does not attend her ballet performance. Instead she farewells Roy, and is dismissed from the ballet. Kitty also quits the ballet.
Myra and Kitty rent a small apartment and Myra receives flowers from Roy. Myra meets Roy's mother (Lucile Watson) and, while waiting, she reads in the paper that Roy has been killed. She faints and later behaves apprehensively and impudently towards Roy’s mother. His mother leaves a distressed Myra who goes back to her apartment. Myra grows depressed and Kitty buys her medicine with income she earnt as a prostitute. Kitty lies to Myra and tells her that she has been working as a performer. Myra attends the performance of the play in which Kitty is supposedly acting, and comes back to the apartment, asking questions about the play. Myra then confronts Kitty. Kitty confesses and Myra, too, becomes a prostitute as a means of coping with their financial circumstances.
Myra works at Waterloo Station and, in the midst of attempting to pick up potential customers, sees Roy coming from the train. He greets her warmly and takes her to lunch where she acts strangely towards him. He assumes their engagement will go on as planned and Myra accepts his offer after his questions on whether or not she has moved on. The two go to his home in Scotland where she again meets his mother. His mother apologizes for leaving Myra at the restaurant as she had not known that Roy was "dead". Myra and Roy’s mother become friends. Myra dances at a ball and speaks with Roy's uncle who tells her they are a proud and esteemed family, the Cronins, and that a sweet ballerina will be the perfect wife for Roy. Myra feels guilty and speaks with his mother, telling her the truth of her position. Myra then decides she can no longer carry on her facade. Roy sees her one last time and tells her of his excitement, before returning her good luck charm, stating that now that they will be married it doesn't matter which one of them has it.
Myra leaves and Roy, frantic, looks for her. He recruits Kitty's help and she takes him to Myra's haunts. He soon learns of her double life, but he still wishes to marry her and continues searching frantically for her. Myra, meanwhile, is on Waterloo Bridge and, seeing an approaching convoy of army ambulances, commits suicide by walking into the path of the ambulances.
The film cuts back to Roy, years later, standing on the bridge, holding the good luck charm, and reminiscing of a love lost.
Production
- The film capitalized on Leigh's success the previous year in Gone with the Wind. Taylor, meanwhile, was eager to show audiences that he was more than the suave and youthful lover he had played in such films as Camille and Three Comrades.
- Leigh wanted Laurence Olivier for the role of Roy Cronin, and was unhappy that Taylor had been cast in the part, although she had enjoyed him on the set of A Yank at Oxford. She wrote to then-husband Leigh Holman, "Robert Taylor is the man in the picture, and as it was written for Larry, it's a typical piece of miscasting. I am afraid it will be a dreary job..."
- Taylor later said of his performance, "It was the first time I really gave a performance that met the often unattainable standards I was always setting for myself." Of Leigh, Taylor said, "Miss Leigh was simply great in her role, and she made me look better."
- Of all her films, Leigh stated this one was her favorite. Taylor also felt this to be his personal favorite.
Adaptations to Other Media
Waterloo Bridge was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on two broadcasts of The Screen Guild Theater, first on January 12, 1941 with Brian Aherne and Joan Fontaine, second on September 9, 1946 with Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor. It was also presented as a half-hour broadcast of Screen Director's Playhouse on September 28, 1951 with Norma Shearer.
Popularity in China
Transcribed as 魂断蓝桥 in Chinese, the film is extremely popular in China. University students hold regular viewings.
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