Really Surprised!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The End of the Affair is a film directed by Edward Dmytryk.It stars Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, Peter Cushing and John Mills. It is based on the novel The End of the Affair by Graham Greene.Maurice Bendrix is the clandestine lover of married Briton Sarah Miles. When Maurice disappears during the London blitz, Sarah feels responsible. She thought that if she hadn't been cheating on her husband Henry, Maurice might never have been placed in harm's way. She gets down on her knees and prays, promising to return to her husband and give him up Maurice if her lover's life is spared. The movie is definitely dated by today's standards as it told routine love story wherein everything is clichéd,formulaic and predictable.The performances of the cast saved this from being an average film even during the time it was released.Aside from that,the theme that Greene is trying to convey about morality and his belief in a demanding Catholicism that is not worried about pleasing anyone but God makes this film's message applicable even by today's time.

When I saw that this movie was by Graham Greene, I expected a suspense story, maybe a spy story. So I wanted to warn people that this movie is nothing like that. It is about faith and God.It is couched as a love triangle melodrama. This disguise is so well-wrought that it seems to have fooled a lot of people into thinking the movie is a love story. But all that is merely an excuse for the rather deep philosophical issues that the movie tackles.In typical Greene manner, though, it is rife with unexpected plot twists. For example, just when I thought the movie was about to wrap itself up, it launched into the real reason for its existence, via a flashback into "what really happened" in Sarah's life. This is an unusual place in a movie to have a long flashback, it seems to me.After this point, there is one change of direction after another. Up until the very last scene, the movie is quite ambiguous, and it is not at all clear whether Greene views belief in God as a bad, destructive thing or not. Even the last scene does not completely resolve this question.Johnson has a particularly unusual part, his all-consuming passion for Sarah inadvertently causing her misfortune after misfortune. His understated guilt and horror each time he discovers the effects of his actions is an interesting part of the story.The acting by the three mains, Kerr, Johnson and, surprisingly, Peter Cushing, is top notch. This movie is not "entertainment," however. It is an intellectual challenge, engaging the viewer to wrestle with issues most thinking humans must come to terms with at one time or another in their lives. The dialogues between Johnson and Kerr remind me very much of a non-humorous presentation of the themes dealt with in "The Screwtape Letters," with Johnson (and Goodliffe) presenting all the rational, reasonable conclusions favoring atheism, but Kerr inevitably being drawn deeper and deeper into faith in God, more because of their efforts than in spite of them.As has been demonstrated in other comments, this movie will not be enjoyed by those unwilling to examine their stances towards these fundamental issues of human existence.

****SPOILERS**** Schmaltzy yet very penetrating film about forbidden love in the betrayal of one's spouse that leads to a series of life changing, as well as ending, events to all those involved. American writer Maurice Bendrix, Van Johnson,had been discharged from the US Army because of a trick knee and decided to spend the rest of the war in London writing a novel about the British civil service system. Meeting the Miles at a party Maurice notices civil servant Henry Miles',Peter Cshing, sexy wife Sarah, Deborah Kerr, smooching with a British Tommy out of the corner of his eye, in a back-room mirror, and feels that she's easy. The first time he's alone with Sarah in a pub, Maurice makes his move on her.Sarah is immediately smitten by the handsome and sweet talking American who's just the opposite of her dull by the books civil service husband Henry. Because Maurice has a very suspicious mind, unlike Henry, his affair with Sarah has a lot of bumps in it. The end comes when he's all alone with her while, like almost during the entire film, Henry is away at work. The Miles house is hit by a German V1 rocked knocking Maurice down a flight of stairs and burying him in the rubble. It's when Maurice miraculously recovers that he notices that the concerned for his life and safety Sarah had completely changed but the reason for her disaffection for Maurice is totally misunderstood by him. That's what leads to the crisis that follows in later driving both lovers to the brink of madness or even death and self-destruction.The movie cleverly has a number of parallel scenes inserted into it where we see what's the real reason behind Sarah's strange behavior, it has to do with her religious beliefs. Sarah is torn between her religion, Catholicism, and her love, while she's married to Henry, for another man Maurice. We also see that Marcice is determined to have Sarah all to himself and that he doesn't care it if would in the end not only kill Sarah but her weak and overly sensitive husband Henry ,who's life without her would be worthless.The ending is a bit too over dramatic even for this schmaltzy tear-jerker with Maurice almost on the brink of an emotional melt-down. He's****MAJOR SPOILER***told by the Miles family doctor that his beloved Sarah's, who at first was only suffering from a very bad cold, condition turned for the worse and with that she suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. It's the guilt of not leaving Maurice and getting on with her life with Henry that seemed to have driven Sarah, unconsciously not willfully, to kill herself! Even though it wouldn't conflict with her religious beliefs and in the end make everything turn out for the better in this three sided wild and forbidden love affair.Somewhat dated but still hits the spot with Deborah Kerr as both beautiful and sexy as ever, even with all her clothes on. Deborah or Sarah does her best and succeeds in showing how it's hard to overcome one's emotions when nature or what turned out to be the man of her dreams, Maurice, takes hold of them. You have to give both Deborah Kerr and her co-star Van Johnson credit in generating enough heat in the theater, or at home of those watching the movie, without having to turn to up the thermostat and thus saving a mint on the energy bill.

The two lovers in this picture who were having an affair, namely: Deborah Kerr, (Sarah Miles) and Van Johnson, (Maurice Bendrix) both bored me to death with their flashbacks about their so called love affair. The entire picture went around in complete circles along with bombs exploding in London during World War 11. The End of the Affair should have been over before it started, I doubt very much if this couple even enjoyed their so called sexual affair, the both acted way out of character and Van Johnson and Deborah Kerr were not suited for each other as actors in this film. It is a depressing horrible film and it really gave me a Headache to watch.