The Passionate Friends, by David Lean (1949)

Former lovers Mary Justin (Todd) and Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard) meet accidentally at a New year's party and rekindle lost feelings. Trouble is she is married to a wealthy banker Howard Justin (Claude Rains) and Stratton's in a committed relationship. Justin discovers the affair however and puts an end to it. Nine years pass and they meet again while vacationing. Stratton is now married with kids but Howard thinks otherwise and files for divorce. Mary becomes desperate and suicidal.

This movie is based on the 1913 novel "The Passionate Friends" by H. G. Wells, who also wrote "The Invisible Man", which was made into a 1933 hit movie starring Claude Rains, one of the stars in this movie.

The book Mary (Ann Todd) finds on Steven's (Trevor Howard's) shelf and reads from is "Patterns of Culture" by Ruth Benedict (1887-1948), a noted American anthropologist and folklorist. The book was published in 1934. It is the first book from which Mary Justin and Steven Stratton quote after dinner ("In the beginning, God gave to every people a cup of clay, and from this cup they drank their life."). The full passage from her book is: "A chief of the Digger Indians, as the Californians call them, talked to me a great deal about the ways of his people in the old days. One day, without transition, he broke in upon his descriptions of grinding mesquite and preparing corn soup. "In the beginning," he said, "God gave to every people a cup, a cup of clay, and from this cup they drank their life. They all dipped in the water", he continued, "but their cups were different. Our cup is broken now. It has passed away." Our Cup is Broken. Those things that had given significance to the life of his people, the domestic rituals of eating, the obligations of the economic system, the succession of ceremonials in the villages, possession in the bear dance, their standards of right and wrong - these were gone, and with them, the shape and meaning of their life."

The second book that Mary Justin and Steven Stratton quote from after dinner ("From the music they love you should know the texture of men's souls.") is roughly taken from English novelist and playwright John Galsworthy's "The Man of Property" (published in 1906), the first in a series of three novels and two interludes comprising the "The Forsyte Saga" (published in 1922). The actual quote is: "By the cigars they smoke, and the composers they love, ye shall know the texture of men's souls."

The film underwent a restoration by the BFI National Archive and Granada International, funded by The David Lean Foundation, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17th 2008. This release is a restoraton.

Ann Todd was married to director David Lean from 1949 to 1957.

In the late 1950s Ann embarked on a secondary career as a writer and maker of travel documentaries.

Directed by David Lean

Based on novel by H.G. Wells

Cast: Ann Todd, Trevor Howard, Claude Rains.

LINK: https://youtu.be/ziI8Z16h1hI

Movie with copyrights, but the owner allows the content to be on YouTube.

Subtitles: English, Portugês, Español.

Antigos amantes Mary Justin (Ann Todd) e Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard) se encontram acidentalmente em festa de fim de ano e reacendem antigas chamas. O problema é que ela está casada com um rico banqueiro, Howard Justin (Claude Rains) e Steven está compromissado. Justin descobre o caso contudo e coloca um fim nele. Nove anos se passaram e eles se encontram de novo, enquanto estão em férias. Stratton agora está casado e com filhos, mas Howard pensa de outra maneira e pede divórcio. Mary fica desesperada e com tentativas de suicídio.