I think you've missed the point here. Ann had joined the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS, or Wrens) considerably prior to the end of the film. Ivan was needed back in Russia. Neither could shirk their duty, and neither would have been allowed to stay in the other's country during wartime circumstances. Ann would not even have been allowed to accompany Ivan to Russia, married to him or not, while she was on active duty. Since the film takes place during the war and was shot during the war, no one could know the outcome of the war. One presumes, as I'm very sure British audiences of the time did, that if the war were won, Ann and Ivan would find a way to reunite. But while duty called, duty must be answered, and the very core of the film is, as Ann's grandfather says on more than one occasion, "duty and service." "Romance and marriage" would have to wait till after the war.
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jimmywhale
11 years ago
Neither could shirk their duty, and neither would have been allowed to stay in the other's country during wartime circumstances.
I'm inclined to agree with your assessment here, Jim. But still, couldn't the film makers have put in a short scene with the couple promising to reunite after the war has been won? As an entertainment, this lack of closure made the film a fail for me, although I'd watch Olivier in anything!
To a new world of gods and monsters!
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skiddoo
11 years ago
They were realistic about their chances. And as things turned out, with the Cold War, they wouldn't have been able to be together until the breakup of the USSR. Clearly, these were star-crossed lovers. But stiff upper lip, no time for tears. We have a war to win.
It's too bad the optimism of the USSR and UK being friends after the war was not to become a reality. Postwar laughing together did not occur.
While a middle class, Depression-hit, American inventor would have been as astonished by the upper class Brits before the war as the Russian inventor, your average American wouldn't go off quietly with his or her duty firmly in mind when romance was in the air. Individuality was the center of our culture even then, although somewhat weakened by the need to share during our decade-long run of poverty. Edward VIII was highly influenced by his admiration for our culture and is now known for his "world well lost for love" philosophy. George VI was the epitome of British sacrifice and his daughter Elizabeth II was probably the last of their line to hold to the old standard of duty before personal happiness--even instead of personal happiness. A Russian of that era would understand that, too.
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Royalcourtier
9 years ago
I am afraid that you are right. Too many Americans put themselves - and their bank balances - ahead of their country. That is why there were so many Soviet spies in America. At least the Soviet spies in England were traitors out of (misguided) conviction, and were not purely mercenary as were most of their American equivalents.
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AccidntlTourist
11 years ago
You do offer helpful perspective.
Yes, such insight is helpful, still I think - as others have also pointed out - that it would have been useful to show viewers where the relationship, that the film developed so well, stood. "Parting is such sweet sorrow" - is the stuff of legendary classics and "Adventure" might have reached a wider audience had they not trampled over the love affair.
"But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. " - Rick; Casablanca
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/trivia?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu
Was this typical British understatement?
I wonder if they were assuming that viewers were already acquainted with this war-time romance concept and typical resolution (this is war - all else must be put aside)- having seen Casablanca which was released in January (12 months earlier) of the same year.
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