At first glance, I found that the 1979 film, Hanover Street, had a great deal of
potential. A World War 2 espionage film wherein a “heroic” American pilot,
David Halloran (played by a young Harrison Ford), and a British spy, Paul
Sellinger (played by Christopher Plummer), are shot down over enemy lines in an
attempt to acquire a list of Allied spies on the whole sounds pretty
suspenseful. However, I fail to mention the fact that this is only the second
half of the film. The first half consists of Halloran courting Margaret
Sellinger, Paul Sellinger’s wife (played by Lesley-Anne Down), employing very
cheesy line in the process. While the directing was on par, the screenwriting
was, to say the least, lacking. Also, I found that the storyline was a bit
discontinuous and that the screenwriter made a poor attempt to bond two
completely different movies together. As stated in Pfeiffer and Lewis' book, Harrison Ford claims to have never seem the film. I do not blame him.
The first
scene of the film introduces the audience to Halloran and Margret Sellinger as
they one-up each other in line jumping as they wait for a bus on Hanover Street
in London. This exchange results in Halloran fake limping away and him asking
her out to coffee (she counteroffers and the two grab some tea. They hit it off
and Halloran asks to see her again. Due to the guilt of being a married woman
she attempts to flee. Then with perfect Hollywood timing, an air raid begins
and Halloran ends up finding Sellinger and their steamy affair follows suit.
This matter of luck sets the tone for all of the preposterous coincidences to
come for the duration of the film.
This first
half of the film that follows Ford’s and Down’s love affair is littered with a
great deal of corny romantic lines. This comes as a bit of a surprise as the
banter between Margret and her daughter is relatively witty which allowed for
intentional laughs. The fist half of the film bored me due to the fact that without
fail the scene sequences went as follows: love scene, bombing mission, love scene bombing mission etc.
The second half actually employed suspense and action, although it was absurd that Halloran and Paul ended up on the same mission and that it did not seem to fit with the first half. Paul took on the task of retrieving the list of spies essentially to prove to his wife that he was brave. As the two flee in a German jeep the subject of a hero is brought up. Paul states that he views himself as simply being pleasant. He thinks of himself as not being heroic but rather a nice guy. He makes it evident to Halloran that in his eyes the American is his idea of a hero as he is willing to risk his life on a daily basis. By Halloran's reaction, it is clear that he does not view himself as being heroic. He thought that his actions are not heroic but rather, he simply had nothing to lose in his life. As soon as he did obtain something that gave is life meaning (Margret's love) he committed a cowardice act in lying about hearing something wrong with his engine. He also finds himself even less heroic after he finds out that it is Paul's wife with whom he is having an affair. Its seems that as pleasant as Paul is, he is more heroic than Halloran because he took the mission, not because he had nothing to lose, but rather he he wanted to prove his bravery to his wife. It is clear that Paul's views had an effect on Halloran, evidenced by Halloran's going back to save Paul on the bridge. Also, some of Halloran's bravery rubbed off on Paul as he would not have been able to accomplish the mission without him.
Michael D. Miller: Response to Hanover Street Post
ReplyDeleteActors are their own worst critics and critics are critics because they are not capable of becoming actors. Both characters in the film accomplish the heroic ideal, Halloran is a hero in the fact that he falls in love with a married woman and then gives her up after his successful mission with her husband Paul Sellinger. Halloran is viewed as a hero during the Nazi mission. However, if one were to ask Halloran if he acted heroically, he would likely answer that he wanted to survive. There is no indication at any time that Halloran had a death wish. Even though he did not volunteer for the mission and he certainly did not know that it would lead to having to abandon the plane and accompany Sellinger on his mission, Halloran did what he felt was necessary to survive. Like any good soldier, he was not going to leave a fellow soldier behind for any reason.
I personally do not feel that the film was cheesy or lacking in screen writing. "Despite the clichés and unabashed influences from old wartime tearjerkers. Hanover Street is an engrossing and moving story." The unassuming approach that Harrison Ford takes to the Halloran character proves that Ford was not trying to force his character into one or another stereotype. He allowed the character to grow and flourish on screen and having the audience fall in love with the character.