Review of 84 Charing Cross Road (1987) by Angela S — 27 Feb 2007

Over the weekend, Gwen watched [i]Silence of the Lambs[/i]. She says it's terribly creepy listening to the voiceovers from this so soon. However, she is, after all, the one who recommended this to me; she has and loves the book as well.

However true the story may or may not be (there's apparently some doubt), it is at very least a charming story. Anne Bancroft--who got the movie rights to the book from her husband as a birthday present; who knew Mel Brooks could be so sweet?--plays a young woman (at first) who, irritated by the poor selection of older books available at the bookstores she has access to in New York, writes off to a bookstore (the titular 84 Charing Cross Road) in London to ask them to find the books for her.

This is the beginning of a forty-year friendship by post. She ships the occasional food package into England during rationing, and Frank, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, ships her the books she wants, as well as a few presents from not just himself but the rest of the staff. She also receives the occasional letters from other staff members--and Frank's wife, played by Dame Judi Dench.

Few people in America really understand the deprivations of immediately post-war Britain. As mentioned in the movie, there was some pretty amazing rationing, and it lasted for quite some time. The food packages Helene sent in twice a year would have been a great pleasure.

We have a hard time believing that people we've never met can truly be our friends. At least, we feel the need to justify it. They're not "real" friends. However, O Six Readers, I don't know all of you. I've never even met Donnie B., and he's why I started this journal in the first place, lo these nearly 300 entries past. (I kind of want to time things so [i]300[/i] is the 300th movie I review. How geeky is that?).

Still, there are friends I lvoe dearly that I've never met, and there are people I've met who only really became my friends online. Half the joy of it is that I don't need to remember to mail letters now. Thank Gods for the tubes of the interwebs.