Enchantment

In a dual role, David Niven is dynamic as a young British officer and also as a broken-hearted general who reweaves the threads of love after a span of fifty years.

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"In a dual role, David Niven is dynamic as a young British officer and also as a broken-hearted general who reweaves the threads of love after a span of fifty years."@en
"This beautiful and haunting fantasy tells two intertwined love stories -- a bittersweet Victorian romance and a budding courtship unfolding during World WAr II."@en
""In London, during World War II, elderly General Sir Roland Dane returns to his childhood home. As he dozes by the fire, murmuring about 'Lark, ' his grandniece Grizel, an ambulance driver with the American Army, comes to his door seeking lodging. Although he has never met Grizel, Roland gruffly agrees to let her stay, and the butler explains to Grizel that Lark was Roland's father's ward. As Grizel dresses for dinner in Lark's former room, images from the past come to life: One night, Roland's father introduces his children, Selina, Pelham and Roland, who is nicknamed 'Rollo, ' to little Lark Ingoldsby, whose parents were killed in a train accident the previous night. Dane tells his children that Lark will live with them as their sister, and Selina, who has been mistress of the house since her mother died, is immediately resentful. Back in the present, Grizel reports for duty and meets handsome Pilot Officer Pax Masterson, whose hands were burned in an airplane crash. When she returns home later, she finds Pax waiting for her, and to her surprise, he knows all about the house and the Dane family. Pax tells her that Lark is his aunt, and as he strikes a note on Lark's piano, another episode from the past is revealed: Rollo comes home on leave from the service and observes that Selina treats Lark, now a pretty young woman, more imperiously than ever. Pelham gives Lark money to buy her first new dress, and introduces her to society at a party the following night. After the party, Selina informs Lark that Rollo's regiment will be sent to India for two years. In the present, Pax finishes demonstrating his knowledge of the house for Grizel and leaves just before Roland returns. Roland is surprised to learn that the young man he passed outside is Lark's nephew, and is dismayed to hear his practical grandniece dismiss any notion of romance on principle. With his thoughts again turned to Lark, Roland recalls the past: Lark has become a popular young lady, and both Pelham and the wealthy Marchese Del Laudi are in love with her. Rollo returns from India, and when he learns it is Lark's birthday, he sells his horse to buy her a beautiful necklace. In the present, Pax recovers from the surgery on his hands, and calls on the Danes. Roland listens eagerly as Pax describes his aunt's solitary existence, soon lapsing into memories of his own: The night of Lark's birthday party, Rollo gives her the necklace, and they declare their love for each other. Their idyll is interrupted by Selina, who informs Rollo that he has been appointed to a special mission that leaves for Afghanistan the following week. When Rollo announces his intention to marry Lark, Selina replies that they must wait five years until Rollo returns. Aware that she cannot remain in the house with Pelham, Lark tearfully tells Rollo she cannot wait. Later, while Rollo is seeking a release from his appointment, Selina vindictively tells Lark that he is not coming back. Rollo returns to find Lark gone, and angrily vows not to return to the house while Selena is alive. Pelham then comes in with the news that Lark is going to marry Del Laudi and move to Italy. In the present, as Grizel is preparing to leave on her next assignment, Pax asks her to marry him, but she declines. Roland gives the departing Pax a telegram stating that his aunt Lark is dead, then urges Grizel not to cheat herself out of love the way he did. Although an air raid has just begun, Grizel rushes into the street, and finds Pax just as the bombs begin dropping around them. With their arms around each other, they watch as the Dane house goes up in flames"--AFI catalog, 1941-1950."@en
"Two generations of lovers struggle to determine whether practicality or passion should guide their fate."@en
"LASERDISC. Fantasy film intertwining two love stories--a bittersweet Victorian romance and a budding courtship unfolding during World War II."@en
"Fantasy film intertwining two love stories--a bittersweet Victorian romance and a budding courtship unfolding during World War II."@en
"This beautiful and haunting fantasy tells two intertwined love stories of a bittersweet Victorian romance, and a budding courtship unfolding during World War II. Can love transcend time to right the mistakes and sorrows of the past?"@en