Brief Encounter (1974 film) Brief Encounter (1974 film) Brief Encounter is a 1974 British-Italian television film starring Richard Burton and Sophia Loren, adapted from the play "Still Life" by Noël Coward. The plot of the film is about two strangers, both married to others, who meet in a railway station and find themselves in a brief but intense affair. The material was previously the basis for the David Lean film "Brief Encounter" (1945). Burton was cast at the last moment, after Robert Shaw dropped out. The film had its premiere on U.S. television on 12 November 1974 as part of the "Hallmark Hall of
What a Life (play) With the Wind" (1939). A 1982 attempted revival of "What a Life" at the Manhattan Punch Line failed. The production was panned in "The New York Times", with reviewer Mel Gussow writing: "The play is piffle. Far funnier efforts can be seen nightly in television reruns of situation comedies. Next to "What a Life," "Leave It to Beaver" is Moliere." The play was initially adapted to radio as comedy segments on Rudy Vallee's program. Next came a separate radio program, "The Aldrich Family". Film adaptation came in the form of 11 motion pictures. Finally, a television series, also called "The