Biography
Filmography
..Things Are Looking Up
..The Village Squire
..Gentleman's   
  Agreement
..Look Up and Laugh
..Fire Over England
..Dark Journey
..Storm in a Teacup
..Twenty-One Days
..A Yank at Oxford
..Sidewalks of London
..Gone With the Wind
..Waterloo Bridge
..That Hamilton Woman
..Caesar and Cleopatra
..Anna Karenina
..A Streetcar Named 
  Desire
..The Deep Blue Sea
..The Roman
  Spring of Mrs. Stone
..Ship of Fools
Stage
Appearances
Photo Gallery 1
Photo Gallery 2
etc.

1940

Synopsis:
Caught on Waterloo Bridge during a World War II air raid, Captain Roy Cronin steps out of his chauffeured sedan to walk the bridge, and while holding a charm, pauses to reflect.  The middle-aged British officer’s thoughts take him back to the time of another air raid, when he makes his way to a shelter, and runs into a young woman, Myra Lester, who has dropped her purse, the contents spilling out all over the ground.  Roy helps her gather up all the items, and both proceed to the shelter, where Myra shared the details of her life.  She mentions she is from Birmingham, and dancing in a ballet company, known internationally and run by Madame Olga Kirowa.  Roy sees Myra perform that evening in “Swan Lake,” and has become totally enamored of the ballerina.  Over their supper that same night they talk over their rather sudden attraction to one another.  He proposes marriage, and Myra accepts.  Since he is in his uncle’s, the Duke’s, regiment, Roy asks the Duke to bend the rules so he can marry.  Before the vows take place, the heretic days of 1917, and World War I, preclude any sort of marriage, because his regiment must go to the front.  Myra goes to say goodbye to Roy at Waterloo Station and misses her ballet performance.  Dismissed from the company for her absence and joined by Kitty, who quits, the women look for employment, but become poverty stricken.  Kitty turns to prostitution to make some sort of living.  Meanwhile, Myra has had tea with Roy’s mother, lady Margaret, and spotted a casualty list bearing Roy’s name; she keeps the news hidden form his mother.  Too despondent to care, Myra joins Kitty in prostitution, soliciting on Waterloo Bridge, and meeting, not long afterward, at Waterloo Station, Roy.  Although thought to be dead, he has been a prisoner of war.  Shocked by his return, she hides what she has been doing.  Continuing their romance where it left off and Myra attempting to put her streetwalking days in the past, she and Roy go to his mother’s country estate.  Myra realizes that sometime in the future, gossip about her will surface, ruining Roy’s aristocratic name.  Gathering up her courage, she tells Lady Margaret the truth, asking the matriarch never to divulge it, and leaves the estate.  Before Roy can find her, Myra walks in front if a truck on Waterloo Bridge; here fiancé discovers her lifeless body.  The movie closes showing Roy once more on the present and on his way to another encounter with war.

Notes:
Vivien’s 1940 version of “Waterloo Bridge” was the second time Sherwood’s play of the same name had been filmed.  Her loan to MGM for the picture by Selznick helped him to repay the assistance the studio had given him for GWTW.

Cast:

Directed By:
Mervyn LeRoy 

Writing Credits:
Robert E. Sherwood (play)
S.N. Behrman

Links:
IMDB Information Page