Connie Booth (Ginny) would later play the Lady from Delaware in 84 Charing Cross Road (1987). 84 Charing Cross Road is a small book of correspondence between Helene Hanff, the author and Frank Doel, a London book seller. These letters chronicle their lives over a twenty year period from 1949 to 1969. Though never meeting, they share a very special friendship, almost a chaste love affair, that extends to his co-workers and family.
| 84 Charing Cross Road | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Jones |
| Produced by | Mel Brooks Geoffrey Helman |
| Written by | Hugh Whitemore |
| Based on | 84 Charing Cross Road by James Roose-Evans adapted from the book by Helene Hanff |
| Starring | |
| Music by | George Fenton |
| Cinematography | Brian West |
| Edited by | Chris Wimble |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| |
| 100 minutes | |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1 million (domestic) |
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 84 Charing Cross Road by Hanff 503 Fast at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products! 84 Charing Cross Rd. Is the collected letters of a female New Yorker, and a British book seller. They have a long correspondence over many years regarding books, mostly non-fiction, classics, many you have never heard of, many in languages other than English. Charing Cross Road will take you from Trafalgar Square to the junction with Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. In the heart of the West End if you walk up it you will just miss Chinatown, Leicester Square and Covent Garden but you can always take a little detour.
84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David 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. The play has only two characters, but the dramatis personæ for the film were expanded to include Hanff's Manhattan friends, the bookshop staff and Doel's wife Nora.
Plot[edit]
In 1949 New York City, Helene Hanff has difficulty finding obscure literary classics and British literature titles. She notices an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop, where chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests. She is delighted by the books' fine quality. Over time, a long-distance friendship develops between Hanff and Doel and also the other staff members; even Doel's wife corresponds with Hanff. In gratitude for their extraordinary service, Hanff begins sending small gifts, holiday packages, and food parcels to compensate for post–World War IIfood shortages in Britain. 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 Elizabeth II.
Hanff long intends to visit London and meet her bookseller friends, but for various reasons has to postpone her plans. In December 1968 she receives word that Doel has died, and the bookshop has closed. She finally visits Charing Cross Road and the vacant shop in the summer of 1971.
Principal cast[edit]
- Anne Bancroft as Helene Hanff
- Anthony Hopkins as Frank Doel
- Judi Dench as Nora Doel
- Maurice Denham as George Martin
- Eleanor David as Cecily Farr
- Mercedes Ruehl as Kay
- Daniel Gerroll as Brian
- Wendy Morgan as Megan Wells
- Ian McNeice as Bill Humphries
- J. Smith-Cameron as Ginny
- Connie Booth as the Lady from Delaware
- Tony Todd as Demolition Worker
Production[edit]
In 1949 New York City, Helene Hanff has difficulty finding obscure literary classics and British literature titles. She notices an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop, where chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests. She is delighted by the books' fine quality. Over time, a long-distance friendship develops between Hanff and Doel and also the other staff members; even Doel's wife corresponds with Hanff. In gratitude for their extraordinary service, Hanff begins sending small gifts, holiday packages, and food parcels to compensate for post–World War IIfood shortages in Britain. 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 Elizabeth II.
Hanff long intends to visit London and meet her bookseller friends, but for various reasons has to postpone her plans. In December 1968 she receives word that Doel has died, and the bookshop has closed. She finally visits Charing Cross Road and the vacant shop in the summer of 1971.
Principal cast[edit]
- Anne Bancroft as Helene Hanff
- Anthony Hopkins as Frank Doel
- Judi Dench as Nora Doel
- Maurice Denham as George Martin
- Eleanor David as Cecily Farr
- Mercedes Ruehl as Kay
- Daniel Gerroll as Brian
- Wendy Morgan as Megan Wells
- Ian McNeice as Bill Humphries
- J. Smith-Cameron as Ginny
- Connie Booth as the Lady from Delaware
- Tony Todd as Demolition Worker
Production[edit]
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, Madison Avenue, and Saint Thomas Church. Interiors were filmed at Lee International Studios and Shepperton Studios in Surrey.
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
In his review in The New York Times, Vincent Canby called 84 Charing Cross Road '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.'[1]
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.'[2]
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.'[3]
Gene Siskel wrote in The Chicago Tribune: 'Years ago, 84 Charing Cross Road would have been called a 'woman's picture' or a 'perfect matinee.' But it's that and more. It should be irresistible to anyone able to appreciate the goodness of its spirit and its spirited characters.'[citation needed]
Box office[edit]
In its opening weekend in the U.S. the film grossed $24,350 at one theater. The total U.S. box office was $1,083,486.[4]
Awards and nominations[edit]
84 Charing Cross Road Pdf
Anne 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, and Hugh Whitemore for BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. At the 15th Moscow International Film Festival, Anthony Hopkins was named Best Actor, and David Hugh Jones was nominated for the Golden Prize for his direction.[5] Whitemore and Helene Hanff shared the first USC Scripter Award for their contributions to the screenplay.
References[edit]
- ^Canby, Vincent (1987-02-13). 'Movie Review - 84 Charing Cross Road - FILM: BANCROFT IN '84 CHARING CROSS' - NYTimes.com'. Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
- ^'Variety Reviews – 84 Charing Cross Road – Film Reviews'. Variety.com. 1986-12-31. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
- ^Ebert, Roger (March 27, 1987). '84 Charing Cross Road'. RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- ^84 Charing Cross Road at Box Office Mojo
- ^'15th Moscow International Film Festival (1987)'. MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-02-21.
External links[edit]
- 84 Charing Cross Road on IMDb
- 84 Charing Cross Road at Rotten Tomatoes
84 Charing Cross Road Clip
