Review of 84 Charing Cross Road

I only found out about this film when it was shown on television, I was mainly attracted by the names I recognised in the cast, but I read more about it, it is based on a true story, and it was rated well by critics, so I went with it. Basically in 1949, outspoken writer Helene Hanff (Anne Bancroft) lives in New York City, she is in search of obscure classics and British literature titles that she has been unable to find in any bookstore in the city. She notices an advertisement in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co, located at the 84 Charing Cross Road in London, England. She writes a letter to the shop, chief buyer and manager Frank P. Doel (Sir Anthony Hopkins) replies and fulfils her request. A long-distance friendship develops over time between Hanff and Doel, and between Hanff and other staff members. This includes sending further book titles, birthday gifts, holiday packages and food parcels. Hanff and Doel through their letters discuss many topics, including the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the coronation of Elizabeth II, and Doel's relationship with his wife Nora (Dame Judi Dench). Hanff makes it clear that she is keen to come to London to meet Doel in person and see the bookstore, but many circumstances stop her from affording it and postpones her visit. Many things are happening around the characters, between the gloomy reserve of postwar Britain and the effervescence of Cold War America. In December 1968, it is too late when Hanff is saddened to find out that Doel has died, and the bookstore eventually closes. Hanff does finally arrange a trip to London, England in the summer of 1971, she finds the closed shop on Charing Cross Road. Also starring Jean De Baer as Maxine Stuart, Maurice Denham as George Martin, Eleanor David as Cecily Farr, The Fisher King's Mercedes Ruehl as Kay, Daniel Gerroll as Brian, Wendy Morgan as Megan Wells, Ian McNeice as Bill Humphries, Fawlty Towers' Connie Booth as The Lady from Delaware, Tony Todd as Demolition Workman and EastEnders' John Bardon as Labour Party Canvasser. Bancroft and Hopkins give splendidly gentle performances as the book lovers who form something of a transatlantic romance, the film is mostly told through the letters, but we do see bits and pieces from the supporting characters, it is a fascinating story of a relationship where the two people never actually meet each other, a worthwhile biographical drama. Good!