3 Review(s)

This collection brings together three of Coward's most important screenplays - In Which We Serve (1942), Brief Encounter (1945) and The Astonished Heart (1950). The collection features the shooting scripts for each film alongside contextual notes for each play, and a general introduction, by Barry Day. In Which We Serve earned Coward an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 as well as the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film. The film remains a classic of wartime British cinema. Brief Encounter, the most famous screenplay in this collection, is based on Coward's 1936 one-act play Still Life. It remains one of the greatest love stories of all time, coming second in a British Film Institute poll of the top 100 British films. The Astonished Heart tells the story of a psychiatrist's growing obsession for a good-time girl and the resulting tragedy this leads to. This collection features a foreword by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator Emeritus, Film, at New York's MoMA, and an eight-page black and white plate section of production stills.