84 Charing Cross Road (1987)
Directed by David Hugh Jones

Film Review

Helene Hanff's autobiographical 1970 novel 84, Charing Cross Road is beautifully reworked in this poignant but witty film which has a particular resonance for those who cannot resist the mystical allure of second-hand books.  Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins are a perfect casting choice for the chalk-and-cheese protagonists who embark on the most unlikely of romances, endlessly exchanging messages with one another without ever actually meeting, bound to one another by a shared love of literature and musty old books.  Hopkins' cool British reserve, emphasised by his unwavering politeness, makes a jarring contrast with Bancroft's abrasive feistiness, but whilst the two actors never appear on screen together, they appear to have an intimate proximity to one another, as if they were a kind of 20th century equivalent of Abelard and Heloise.

84 Charing Cross Road does not only tell a moving tale of unrequited love, subtly revealed in the matter-of-fact correspondence that zips back and forth across the Atlantic, it also effectively contrasts American and British cultures from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.  David Hugh Jones's direction is understated and has a slight tendency to veer towards the theatrical in parts, although this generally plays to the strengths of the two main actors, whose spellbinding performances are easily among their finest.  Bancroft does a remarkable job of humanising her mildly irritating character (it is incredible to think that anyone could have fallen for someone so ungraceful and self-centred), but it is Hopkins who ultimately steals the film, in a role that is very nearly a dry run for the part he played so magnificently in The Remains of the Day (1993).  With an exemplary supporting cast and a script honed to perfection to back them up, Hopkins and Bancroft excel in what is assuredly one of the most original and engaging romantic dramas of the 1980s.  Would you believe it was produced by Mel Brooks?

Film Synopsis

In 1949, Helene Hanff is an aspiring writer who scrapes by as a script reader in New York City.  Her main passion in life is old books, preferably out of print volumes of obscure work by English writers.  Seeing an ad in a review magazine, she writes to a London-based book shop, Marks & Co, requesting some rare publications.  To her surprise, the shop's manager, Frank Doel, dutifully supplies her with some of the books she requested and eagerly sets about looking for the others.  Over the next twenty years, Helene keeps up her correspondence with Frank, and gets to know his colleagues and wife.  She sends Frank and his entourage parcels of food that is hard to come by in post-war Britain, and in return they gratefully send her gifts.  Helene's intentions to fly to England so that she can get to know Frank in person are endlessly thwarted, but the writer knows that one day she will make a pilgrimage to the little book shop, at number 84, Charing Cross Road...