Product Details

• Actors: Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Plummer, Alec McCowen, Richard Masur
• Directors: Peter Hyams
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, German
• Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
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• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: July 31, 2001
• Run Time: 109 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005LB88
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,322 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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• For more information about "Hanover Street" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Harrison Ford is impossibly young and handsome as an American pilot in the World War II romance Hanover Street; Lesley-Anne Down (The Great Train Robbery) is stunningly beautiful as the British nurse who falls in love with him, despite being married to British intelligence agent Christopher Plummer. In fact, everything about Hanover Street is just a little over the top, from the insanely romantic dialogue to the absurd war-buddy banter of Ford and his bomber crew to the love-making montage in which Down seems to have at least a dozen orgasms. Down and Plummer have a daughter (played by future Lethal Weapon 2 love interest Patsy Kensit) who's so precious and precocious you just want to smack her. The whole thing is almost a camp pastiche of a war romance--but when Ford and Plummer find themselves together behind enemy lines, you'll suddenly discover that you're caught up in the story. Through sheer movie-star charisma and cunningly ridiculous plot mechanics, Hanover Street becomes not only entertaining, but even touching. Plummer is particularly good as an ordinary man who wishes to become something more, Ford is stalwart as only he can be, and Down is just too lovely to resist (it's hard to understand how her career ended up with the likes of Beastmaster 3: The Eye of Braxus and Death Wish 5: The Face of Death). All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable cinematic experience. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description

THE FATEFUL ENTANGLEMENTS OF TWO MEN IN LOVE WITH THE SAME WOMAN.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Romantic gem that tugs on the heart strings - a nostalgic favorite, May 11, 2006

By	Darren Harrison "DVD collector and reviewer" (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

When Harrison Ford saw an advance cut of the original STAR WARS movie he realized the powerful impact the movie made. In subsequent interviews Ford said that it was at that point that he realized that he needed to get to work in a variety of projects so he could avoid being stereotyped by the role of Han Solo. Of the three leads of that movie that shook the world in 1977 he was the most active in the years immediately following, and the strategy appears to have worked as now, almost 30 years later, he is the only one who is considered a megastar.
One of the movies Ford chose was the World War II romantic drama HANOVER STREET in the role of American bomber pilot David Halloran who falls for married English nurse Margaret Sellinger. The Halloran role was originally to be played by Kris Kristofferson, but it is a testament to Fords personality and acting that it is hard to imagine the movie as it was originally cast.
Viewed today the movie has an impressive cast, but at that time Ford was perhaps the least known of the three leads.
Playing Sellinger is the amazing and impossibly beautiful Lesley-Anne Down who was well known to British television audiences (in UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS) and in addition to an appearance in 1976s THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN had, a year previously, appeared opposite Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland in THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY.
Down would go on to make other movies such as ROUGH CUT (with Burt Reynolds) and my personal-favorite SPHINX (with Sir John Gielgud and John Rhys-Davies). But here she plays a nurse caught in a love triangle between the hotshot flier (Ford) and her British intelligence husband Paul (played by screen great Christopher Plummer).
The movie really picks up the pace when David and Paul have to work together behind enemy lines. There is dramatic tension there as Halloran is initially unaware of the connection he shares with Paul and yet, the success of the mission depends on them cooperating. This is not an action movie by any means, but when there is action on the screen it is handled well in a nice understated manner.
It seems that the transfer on this DVD has come in for some criticism, but I found it serviceable. I think the movie is actually quite beautiful at times.
The direction by Peter Hyams is steady and he keeps the movie focused on the human drama unfolding before you. He also supplies an audio commentary for this DVD release that is amiable and light.
On a trivia note, the young Sellinger's daughter Sarah is portrayed by the actress (and singer for the group Eighth Wonder) Patsy Kensit, who ten years later would appear opposite Mel Gibson in the action movie LETHAL WEAPON 2.
Three trailers round out the special features.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much love, not enough war, August 7, 2004

By	Matthew Easterbrook "silverscreenjunkie" (Ottawa, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

That sounds like a crass statement to make, to be sure, but in the case of HANOVER STREET, it is, unfortunately, true. The first 75 minutes is taken up with Harrison Ford as an American flyboy who falls in love with upper-crust British nurse Lesley-Anne Down, who happens to be married to poor Christopher Plummer. He seems to be a pretty good guy, but apparently isn't "exciting" enough for her, so she hops in the sack with Ford. The last 45 minutes is much better, as Ford and Plummer find themselves stuck behind enemy lines in Occupied France together, and must work together to get out. It's only here in which the film really picks up -- too bad the movie didn't focus on this aspect rather than the mush.

The DVD itself has a transfer that's been criticized a bit, but I didn't think it was too bad. David Watkin's cinematography comes out nicely, although there is a fair bit of haloing surrounding the light sources in indoor scenes. The audio nicely features John Barry's lush romantic score (really, the only good thing about the romantic part of the film).

The extras are few: an audio commentary by director Peter Hyams, which is listenable, but not essential, and three trailers. All in all, an average DVD presentation of an average film.

The film: 3 stars.
The extras: 3 stars.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consider the times, December 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hanover Street [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I've always loved this movie. Yes, the plot is a little over-used, but you can't beat it for early Harrison Ford. The bedroom scenes are done with the taste lacking in many of today's movies. Richard Masur is very funny as the nervous bomb spotter. Two thumbs and two big toes up!