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
Post Mortem (Coward play) "the play is outstanding as a polemical, vitriolic attack on British disregard for World War I victims". When the play was staged in London in 1992, the critical response was mixed. "The Times" and "The Independent" were hostile. Benedict Nightingale of "The Times" wrote, "It is the sort of anti-war play you might expect from someone who never swapped a shot in anger and at some level feels guilty for having survived the slaughter: shrill, awkward... It is just the sort of didactic plod that Coward hated when others were writing; and with good reason. "The Independent" praised the production,