So Little Time (1952)

Just so...so bad

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

A lot of fun.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Just watched this almost forgotten masterpiece on Gem, Australia's free-to-air digital channel. I'm reeling from the fact this British production was made in 1952 - seven years after the war ended. It must have shocked many people of my grandparent's generation, who fought the Nazis in WWII. Gunther tells Nicole, 'There is no war, only you and me.' But is that truly possible? Her father has been executed by the Nazis. Members of my family - civilians - lost their lives at Japanese hands during the invasion of Rabaul in January 1942. If I had been in the same situation as Nicole, could I have fallen in love with a Japanese officer through a shared passion for say ... T'ang era poetry? I very much doubt it. I visit Japan often, I love Japanese culture, but it's impossible to forget what happened to my family in Rabaul. 'Forgive, but never forget girl,' as my 92 year old great-uncle said to me not long before he died.So ... on one level, So Little Time is about a profoundly ethical question: is it treason to love one's enemy during war? On another, it is about the most fatal kind of fatal romance: when enemies fall in love. Both parties know it will end badly, but ... the heart wants what the heart wants. Was it Plato who said love is a kind of madness? For that reason Schell and Goring are compelling and believable as Nicole and Gunther - particularly Goring, who struggles with his feelings for Nicole. The film also makes it clear that like many Wehrmacht German officers at that time, Gunther perceives himself as a professional soldier, not a Nazi. We realise this in the final scene.I was deeply moved by this film. It helped me to understand why so many women fell in love with German soldiers during the occupation of France etc during WWII. Gunther is bloody sexy! Until I watched So Little Time, I don't think I really understood, because my family's experience in New Guinea skewed my judgment. Unless we are in that situation, we don't know what we would do - except hope that reason would prevail.

There have been other portrayals of fatal relationships arising in wartime. This one sets out to have great pathos but lacks conviction, due to the lack of chemistry between the principals. I have to lay the blame with Marius Goring (whom I like in other things). He holds the heroine very stiffly, and plants blunt passionless kisses on her face, mostly missing her lips. As it appeared the last thing he wanted to do was kiss a girl, I was led to the hypothesis he was of the other persuasion, although I can't find any support for this in IMDb. Maybe it's mostly that expressions of passion were very stylized and formal in the films of the 1950s. Anyway,a passionate lover he is not, although he is good in the persona of the arrogant Nazi. Maria Schell is lovely and very simpatico, although the celestial smile on her face is over-used. The story is effective in depicting her as naive and confused, although as her character acts more and more foolishly towards the end, I rapidly lost sympathy. There is plenty of suspense and it's a good-looking film. It could have been so much more engaging with better acting and direction, hence a 5.

How sad that this film appears to have been lost - how do you "lose" such an good film?I too have only seen it once, on television - was it in the seventies? But I've never forgotten it, and always kept an eye out for it to appear on television again, especially since the advent of cable, or in video stores, but it has eluded me.I've always liked Marius Goring's work - yes, I fell in love with him in The Red Shoes - but this film was particularly strong in both story- line and casting. I've always preferred black and white film for drama, and it was just right for this romantic and ultimately tragic story.I'm rating it high, although I saw it so long ago and can't remember details, but for any film to have had such an impact that one can't forget it decades later after one viewing, means it deserves the highest rating.

I saw this film years ago and was VERY impressed.The plot is unusual in that it depicts a sympathetic relationship between an invading German officer and a Belgian girl.I'd give anything to know why this film seems not to be available.