This is the eternal story of a man destroyed by passion... Take away the Received Pronunciation and the black and white production, and this film could have been made yesterday.
The chance to see Noel Coward perform any one of his works is never to be passed up. But The Astonished Heart is inflated out of all proportion from what began as a small one act playlet, part of an octet that comprised Tonight At 8:30.
In motion pictures, we have many different artistic disciplines coming together to make one finished product. In some films, there are elements that have great artistic merit, while other elements fall short.
Yes, dated, yes, stiff, yes, mannered, yes, upper class twaddle, yes, Noel looks 99 years old, yes, wet, yes, blinkered clipped and indoors... BUT what a script!
I had not seen or heard of this film before watching it on DVD. I found it compelling and easy to watch.
The title is from a passage in the Bible (Deut. 28:28).
The Astonished Heart (1950)Well, Noel Coward is above all a writer, and this is a sharp, well written, and contemporary (for 1950) drama. It is acerbic and witty, and it has a dry style you'd be forgiven for calling British (everyone else does) but it is most of all effective.
Yes, Noel Coward is probably one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th Century. Several of his shows ("Private Lives", "Blithe Spirit", and "Present Laughter") have been seen several times recently on Broadway.
Noel Coward's name appears so many times in the opening credits that you think it's going to be a parody: starring, written by, based on a play by, music by... (Celia Johnson is top-billed at the start; he is in the closing credits).
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