David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Blake Edwards's "10" (1979)

As readers of this blog know I tend to be a splitter rather than a lumper but I was surprised to find many similarities between David Lean's Brief Encounter and Blake Edwards's "10" when they were recently broadcast on Turner Classic Movies:  both movies are about temptation that is resisted by continuing commitment and each effectively evokes a time and a place, England in 1945 and America in 1979,

Brief Encounter is based on a Noel Coward play and concentrateds on two characters (Celia Johnson as Laura Jesson and Trevor Howard as Dr. Alec Harvey) and one major location (a train station in suburban England).  Jesson and Harvey are both married with two children each, fall in love after a chance encounter, unsuccessfully try to consummate their relationship (the owner of a borrowed flat returns too early) and fail to overcome their guilt and shame; Harvey moves to Africa with his family and Jesson returns to her husband.  In "10" George Webber (Dudley Moore) sees Jenny Hanley (Bo Derek) on her way to her wedding, follows her on her honeymoon to Mexico, rescues her husband from being washed out to sea, tries to make love to Jenny and fails because of impotence and returns to his lover Samantha Taylor(Julie Andrews)

Music is important in both films:  Lean uses the rich romanticism of Rachmaninoff's Concerto #2 throughout Brief Encounter, George in "10" is a composer, Samantha is a singer and the score is by the more modern romantic Henry Mancini, who scored a number of films for director Blake Edwards.  In Brief Encounter when Laura and Alec meet at a restaurant they are entertained by an all-female music ensemble, presumably because of the war, which is never even mentioned in Lean's film, just as the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, is never mentioned in "10."  Jenny insists to George that they make love to Ravel's Bolero.

Brief Encounter is in beautiful black-and-white (cinematography by Robert Lasker) while "10" is in bright colors (cinematography by Frank Stanley)  In Brief Encounter Alec and Laura are about the same age (and they both wish they had met when they were younger) while George is almost twice Jenny's age and perhaps trying to rediscover his youth, just as Alec and Laura are.  Because Brief Encounter is from a Noel Coward play the secret meetings between Alec and Laura might also be a reference to the secrecy of homosexuality, against the law in England until 1967. George's songwriting partner Hugh (Robert Webber) is gay and lonely, strongly urges George to stay with Samantha. Brief Encounter is narrated by Laura, in flashbacks, while "10" is seen almost exclusively from George's point of view.