Waterloo Bridge

Synopsis: On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front. Myra stayed with him past curfew and is thrown out of the corps de ballet. She survives on the streets of London, falling even lower after she hears her true love has been killed in action. But he wasn't killed. Those terrible years were nothing more than a bad dream is Myra's hope after Roy finds her and takes her to his family's country estate.
Genre: Drama, Romance, War
Director(s): Mervyn LeRoy
Production: Warner Home Video
  Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win.
 
IMDB:
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes:
80%
PASSED
Year:
1940
108 min
1,335 Views


ANNOUNCER (ON RADIO): The resulting

action, known now by all the world...

... has marked Sunday,

September the 3rd, 1939...

... as a date to be long remembered.

At 11:
15 this morning,

the prime minister...

... speaking to the nation

from Number 10 Downing Street...

... announced that Great Britain

is at war with Germany.

The London public

are earnestly reminded...

... of the emergency orders

already issued.

No light of any description

should be visible after blackout time.

No dogs or cats will be allowed

to roam the streets after dark.

It should be remembered that pets will not

be permitted in public air-raid shelters.

Gas masks and warm clothing

should be placed at hand before retiring.

It is suggested that a warm drink

in a Thermos...

... would be of great comfort

to children...

... who might have to be awakened

at an unusual hour.

Every effort should be made

to quiet the nerves...

... of those children who remain

despite the evacuation...

... which will continue

until a late hour this evening.

MAN:

Colonel Cronin's car.

I was right, Thomas. It's tonight.

To France, sir?

Waterloo Station.

Yes, sir.

Be familiar to you, won't it, sir?

I mean, having been through

the last one.

Yes. It'll be familiar.

- Thomas.

- Sir?

Go by way of Waterloo Bridge, will you?

Waterloo Bridge, sir?

We have plenty of time.

Right, sir.

Wait for me at the other end of the bridge.

I'll walk across.

THOMAS:

Right, sir.

MYRA:

Here. Take this.

ROY:

Your good-luck charm?

MYRA:

Perhaps it'll bring you luck.

I hope it will.

I'll pray it will.

ROY:

That's wonderfully kind of you.

MYRA:

Do you think you'll remember me now?

ROY:

I think so.

I think so.

For the rest of my life.

(SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE)

WOMAN 1:
It was a siren. I heard it.

WOMAN 2:
You're dreaming.

- I didn't hear a thing.

WOMAN 1:
Did you, Myra?

Stop, listen.

There it is again.

Be quiet, please, all of you.

- Was that an air-raid warning?

- I'm afraid it was. We'll know in a minute.

An air raid. I told you we'll be late.

Madame will be furious.

- We should worry about madame.

WOMAN:
Look. Look.

MAN:

Air raid!

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

- Where can we go?

- The underground station.

- Come on, girls.

- To your right! To your right!

- To your right.

WOMAN:
Hurry.

Come on.

(SIREN WAILING IN DISTANCE)

Stupid bag. It always does this.

- Thank you so much.

- They're out to strafe this bridge.

- We'd better get off it.

- Oh, my lucky charm.

You little fool. Are you tired of life?

- I've had it for years. It brings me luck.

- Such as air raids.

(EXPLOSION IN DISTANCE)

Do you think it'd be too unmilitary

if we were to run?

Not at all.

Do you mind?

MAN:

News Weekly. Read about it.

Paper.

"Here, no pushing," he says.

And I says, "You'd blooming well push

if your hind legs were still outside."

OLD WOMAN:
I always run about,

meseIf. As me old man says:

"A moving target is harder to hit."

- Ain't it?

OLD MAN:
Not haIf.

(EXPLOSION)

Blimey, 'Erman's a ruddy marksman,

ain't he?

- 'Erman?

- Yes, 'Erman the German.

(LAUGHING)

Oh...!

Oh, I'm... I'm sorry.

There seems to be

a certain amount of shoving.

It is a crush, isn't it?

(EXPLOSION)

Mm, that one was close.

We're safe here.

There may be some space

over there by the wall.

- Shall we wiggle through?

- All right.

- Excuse us, please.

- All right.

Excuse me. Thank you very much.

(INDISTINCT MUTTERING)

- Better, eh?

- Yes, thanks. Much better.

- Looking for your friends?

- Yes. Perhaps they took another entrance.

- Do you mind?

- Oh, no, no.

I suppose I mustn't offer you one?

Uh, no, thanks.

You're at school, aren't you?

(LAUGHS)

Am I being funny?

Oh, look, that's our school.

Madame Kirowa's International Ballet.

- International Ballet?

- Mm-hm.

Look here,

you don't mean to say you're a dancer?

- Yes.

- A professional dancer?

Uh, now and then, I wonder.

And you mean you can pirouette

and all that sort of thing?

Certainly. I can do an entrechat six.

- I beg your pardon?

- I can cross my feet six times in midair.

Nijinsky could do 10,

but that only happens once in a century.

Well, it must be good for the muscles

of the... Must be good for the muscles.

I should think a dancer's muscles

would be like a strongman.

Oh, not quite. That'd be dreadful.

We try to combine slenderness

with strength.

Well, I've been dancing since I was 12.

I don't think the muscles

are overdeveloped.

Oh, no. No, no. Not in your case.

Of course, we have to train like athletes.

Madame believes in rigid discipline.

- You expect to get to the theater tonight?

- Certainly. We don't go on till 10.

- I wish I could be there.

- Why don't you come?

No, unfortunately,

I have a colonel's dinner.

It takes a lot of nerve

to miss a colonel's dinner.

- Are you on leave?

- I have been. My home's in Scotland.

Now you have to go back?

To France, I mean.

- Tomorrow.

- Oh, I'm so sorry.

This hateful war.

Yes, I suppose it is.

And yet there's, I don't know...

...a certain amount of excitement

about it too.

Around the corner of every second,

the fascination of the unknown.

We're facing it this instant.

Oh, we face the unknown

in peacetime too.

- You're rather matter-of-fact, aren't you?

- Yes.

You're rather romantic, aren't you?

(WHISTLE BLOWS)

MAN:

All clear!

All clear!

Well, there we are. I'm afraid it's over.

Never enjoyed an air raid more.

Shall we go now or wait for the next?

Oh, it's very tempting,

but I think we'd better go.

Shall I carry that?

No, no. I only drop it in emergencies.

Well, I hope I'm around

the next time it happens.

It isn't very likely, is it?

You go back to France and...

- And you?

- We may go to America.

Oh, that does make it unlikely.

I'm sorry.

So am I.

MAN:

Read all about it.

Read all about it.

It's so late.

I'm afraid I'll have to take a taxi.

That may not be so simple.

- I don't know any...

- I wish I could have seen the...

(BOTH CHUCKLE)

- What were you going to say?

- I wish I could have seen the ballet.

I'm sure it would have been

a pleasant memory in the trenches.

What were you going to say?

Oh, it's just that I don't know anyone

at the front...

...and I'm afraid it'll bring it home

to me now, knowing you.

- Not that I really know you, of course.

BOY:
Here you are, governor.

Thank you very much.

I hope you get back safe and sound.

Thank you.

Here...

...take this.

ROY:

Your good-luck charm?

Perhaps it'll bring you luck.

I hope it does.

Oh, now, look here.

I can't take it. It means so much to you.

You'd better have it.

I was beginning to rely on it too much.

Well, that's wonderfully kind of you.

Olympic Theatre, please.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye.

(ORCHESTRA PLAYING

"SWAN LAKE, OP. 20")

- Kitty, he's here.

- Who?

Oh, the man in the underground?

I don't understand.

He said he couldn't come.

- I suppose he just came to see the show.

- You don't suppose anything of the kind.

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S.N. Behrman

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Waterloo Bridge" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/waterloo_bridge_23120>.

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