84 Charing Cross Road (film)

Infobox Film
name = 84 Charing Cross Road


image_size =
caption = Original poster
director = David Hugh Jones
producer = Mel Brooks
Geoffrey Helman
writer = Hugh Whitemore
Based on the play by James Roose-Evans adapted from the book by Helene Hanff
narrator =
starring = Anne Bancroft
Anthony Hopkins
music = George Fenton
cinematography = Brian West
editing = Chris Wimble
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = February 13, 1987 USA
April 30, 1987 AUS
runtime = 100 minutes
country = United Kingdom/United States
language = English
budget =
gross = $1,083,486 (US)
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0090570

"84 Charing Cross Road" is a 1987 British/American drama film directed by David Hugh Jones. The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself was an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff, a compilation of letters between herself and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. Although the play has only two characters, the dramatis personae for the film were expanded to include Hanff's Manhattan friends, the bookshop staff, and Doel's wife Nora.

Plot synopsis

In 1949, Helene Hanff, in search of obscure classics and British literature titles she has been unable to find in New York City, notices an ad placed by Marks & Co., antiquarian booksellers located at the titular address in London, in the "Saturday Review of Literature". She contacts the shop and its manager, Frank Doel, fulfills her requests. In time, a long-distance friendship evolves, not only between the two, but between Hanff and other staff members as well, with an exchange of Christmas packages, birthday gifts, and food parcels to compensate for post-World War II food shortages in England. Their correspondence includes discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Hanff postpones visiting her English friends until too late; Doel dies in December 1968 and the bookshop eventually closes. She finally visits Charing Cross Road and the vacant shop in the summer of 1971.

Production notes

The film was shot on location in London and New York City. London settings include Buckingham Palace, Soho Square, Trafalgar Square, St James's, Westminster, White Hart Lane in Tottenham, and suburban Richmond. Manhattan settings include Central Park and Madison Avenue. Interiors were filmed at Lee International Studios and Shepperton Studios in Surrey.

In its opening weekend in the US, the film grossed $24,350 at one theater. The total US box office was $1,083,486 [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=84charingcrossroad.htm "84 Charing Cross Road" at BoxOfficeMojo.com] ] .

Principal cast

*Anne Bancroft ..... Helene Hanff
*Anthony Hopkins ..... Frank Doel
*Judi Dench ..... Nora Doel
*Maurice Denham ..... George Martin
*Eleanor David ..... Cecily Farr
*Mercedes Ruehl ..... Kay
*Daniel Gerroll ..... Brian
*Wendy Morgan ..... Megan Wells
*Ian McNeice ..... Bill Humphries
*J. Smith-Cameron ..... Ginny

Critical reception

In his review in the "New York Times", Vincent Canby called it "a movie guaranteed to put all teeth on edge . . . a movie of such unrelieved genteelness that it makes one long to head for Schrafft's for a double-gin martini, straight up, and a stack of cinnamon toast from which the crusts have been removed." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE1D6113DF930A25751C0A961948260 "New York Times" review] ]

Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" observed, "The film is based on a hit London and New York play, which was based on a best-selling book. Given the thin and unlikely subject matter, that already is a series of miracles. And yet there are people who are pushovers for this material. I should know. I read the book and I saw the play and now I am reviewing the movie, and I still don't think the basic idea is sound . . . Miss Fiske . . . was the librarian at the Urbana Free Library when I was growing up . . . She never had to talk to me about the love of books because she simply exuded it and I absorbed it. She would have loved this movie. Sitting next to her, I suspect, I would have loved it, too. But Miss Fiske is gone now, and I found it pretty slow-going on my own." [ [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19870327/REVIEWS/703270301/1023 "Chicago Sun-Times" review] ]

"Variety" described it as "an appealing film on several counts, one of the most notable being Anne Bancroft's fantastic performance in the leading role . . . [She] brings Helene Hanff alive in all her dimensions, in the process creating one of her most memorable characterizations." [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790662.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 "Variety" review] ]

Awards and nominations

Ann Bancroft won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Judi Dench was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role but lost to Susan Wooldridge in "Hope and Glory", and Hugh Whitemore lost the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay to Claude Berri and Gérard Brach for "Jean de Florette". At the Moscow International Film Festival, Anthony Hopkins was named Best Actor, and David Hugh Jones was nominated for the Golden Prize for his direction. Whitemore and Helene Hanff shared the first ever USC Scripter Award for their contributions to the screenplay.

References

External links

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