84 Charing Cross Road

Rating:
Summary: Lost Opportunity--where's Pinter when he was needed
Review: This is a nice movie if you are the bland sort and only superficially into literature; if you are expecting anything pithy or deep or profound or edgy to be said about literature, you will be disappointed. Even a bland, Republican, high school english teacher would get deeper than the dialogue allows Bancroft and Hopkins. Imagine the feast if Pinter had written the screenplay!! But if you thought Field of Dreams was authentic, sincere, and a walloping good movie, you will like this smarmy, sadly lame film.

Rating:
Summary: Book Lover's Dream
Review: 84 Charing Cross Road is a delight. If you are a book lover, it is a dream come true, revealing our intense emotional ties to every aspect of books and reading. Beautifully rendered performances by Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft tug at your heart every time you view this soft, sentimental and pleasant movie. Viewing this movie will become a ritual you will want to share and cannot live without.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best films I have ever seen.
Review: A moving story and excellent acting combine to make this one of my favourites. It is especially good if you like books as much as the main characters. Best of all, it is a true story of everyday people. Hanff's letters are available from Penguin books.

Rating:
Summary: And I live this now...
Review: Ah, the shoe fits...for I too have a similiar relationship, but, hopefully, will meet my friend very soon...this movie was one of the best in context, period research, and complicated thought processing...Hopkins, as usual, does more than an outstanding job...and Bancroft shows her craft in the best light. I recommend this movie to all of us that have always wondered about relationships that can never be consumated in any way...

Rating:
Summary: A Small Gem
Review: Based on the charming true-life book by Helene Hanff, 84 Charing Cross Road is an absolute heart-tugging gem of a movie, and I cannot believe I never came across this 1987 sleeper before this time. Anne Bancroft is magnificent as brash New Yorker Helene Hanff, a book lover extraordinaire who comes across a British emporium of rare books, and begins an extraordinary correspondence (via paper, this was BEFORE e-mail and how charming it is!) with Frank Doel, played fabulously by a young Anthony Hopkins.

Somehow, in their 20 years of correspondence about books, their growing and deep friendship never had its denoument: Neither one was ever able to visit the other. And yet they were extraordinarily close in their mutual love of books, as Hanff's prolific reading habits and exacting demands for unabridged material complimented Doel's understated British desire to help her all he could.

I found myself in tears more than once; there are so many subtleties to this movie, especially in the bravira performance by Bancroft. This may be her finest role, unheralded though it was.

Something wonderful for any book lover. Order it and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: Before seeing this movie, my top 5 favorites were all Sci-Fi and I wasn't terribly thrilled when my wife brought it home to watch. After the first 20 minutes or so I found myself captivated by the characters portrayed by Bancroft and Hopkins. Before the end of the movie I felt renewed by the friendship that had developed between them. I guess I'm not a romantic, so I see this as a story of friendship. Bancroft and Hopkins develop a mutual trust that most people don't ever find in a friend. Most people see the ending as sad, but I felt that, while a face to face meeting would have been nice, their meeting would not have added anything to their relationship. It was complete as it was.

Rating:
Summary: Great Acting, Great Story
Review: Certainly a "must have" for Ann Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins fans. A wonderful job of bringing the correspondence format of the book to the screen. I was quite disappointed however to find that 1/3 of the cinematographer's efforts have been electronically clipped off each side of the picture in the DVD version. To add to the insult, the result is called "full screen." I certainly wouldn't buy a condensed version of the book and cannot understand why anyone would want an "edited for TV version of a great movie.

Rating:
Summary: More than satisfying interpretaion of the books.
Review: Do not avoid watching this because it might spoil the flavor of those priceless books. It is a more than satisfying interpretation of them. END

Rating:
Summary: Powerful drama of relationships formed unseen
Review: excellent dramatics powerful story of relationships formed acros the seas. moving highly recommended

Rating:
Summary: Rip up this ersatz [DVD]...AND WRAP THINGS IN IT.
Review: FULL-SCREEN?!? I'm with you, Francis Young. SELECTIONS, fah! Will someone -- ANYONE! -- from Columbia/TriStar please take a moment to actually watch this lovely, DELIGHTFUL film and then send us an UNABRIDGED copy to enjoy with our rahs-burries? My limp singles await the reawaking of your good sense.