Another Time, Another Place (1958)

Another Time, Another Place, another Sean Connery film I never knew existed but found myself oddly enjoying.  I say oddly because these types of 1950's black and white melodrama's have never been my cup of tea.  But maybe through the presence of Sir Connery himself my eyes are being opened to a whole new genre of classic film, or possibly I prefer the long forgotten films of the 1950's as these first two Connery films have seemed to be.

Lana Turner stars as Sara Scott an American journalist stationed in England to cover the war.  In her three months she meets and falls in love with Mark Trevor (Sean Connery) a BBC correspondent also sent to England to cover the war.  When the relationship appears to becoming quite serious Sara discloses that she's engaged to her boss, Carter Reynolds, but that he (Mark) is the one whom she truly loves.  Before revealing to Carter her intentions of not marrying him, Mark drops an even bigger bomb, he's married and has a son.  While this obviously shocks Sara it still doesn't seem to simmer her love for him, and while Mark hasn't seen his wife in over a month Sara seems to be the only thing he cares to think about.

Sara and Mark plan to make their relationship work, but first Mark has to fly to Paris to cover the end of the war only Mark never returns, his plane crashes and he's killed.  Distraught, Sara ends up spending a couple weeks in an English hospital until she's considered well enough to travel back home to New York City.  But on her way to the ship back to America she takes a detour to the small coastal city where Mark lived and grew up.  Planning only a short one day visit to grasp the surroundings of Mark's life Sara finds herself in his home with his wife and son.  Unaware of Mark's affair, and Sara's true purposes for being there Kay Trevor opens her home to Sara who doesn't appear to be feeling too well.  Sara and Kay become good friends but the ever growing possibility of Sara's presence in the house dredging up Kay's unanswered concerns about Mark's lack of communication with her during the last month of his life threatens to expose Sara's true purpose for being there.

Another Time, Another Place was another surprise enjoyment for me, after Connery's character is killed off twenty minutes in I felt it would be all downhill from there, but the progression of the story proved interesting to say the least as Lana Turner's character tries to find closure in her affair with Mark by becoming friends with his family.  While a little unorthodox it definitely made for an interesting second act.  Aside from that there's really nothing truly exceptional about this film, the acting is good, which mainly consists of Lana Turner following Connery's exit.  The only real cornball performance was from Barry Sullivan who played Carter Reynolds, Sara's Boss.  Carter epitomizes the stereotypes of the 40's and 50's melodrama characters with fast talking, mechanical delivery of his lines, which at times was rather comical.  Lana Taylor definitely carries the film not only as the lead character but also giving the better overall performance.  This is the only Lana Turner film I've ever seen (shocking, I know), but I was quite pleased.

Overall, Another Time, Another Place is definitely worth a look if your a fan of 1950's melodramas, Sean Connery or Lana Turner.  It's strange this film never caught on based on the talent Connery became and Lana Turner's fame prior to this film.  Maybe it was to risque for the 1950's, today I think the story itself is a little unbelievable and final minute a little wishful in terms of a somewhat happy ending.  But in terms of the performances and the writing it's worth a look. 

7/10