Waterloo: A Bridge Beyond Abba

Ask about Waterloo and most young audiences will identify the Swedish pop group's disco toe-tapper and not the 1940 MGM film. Waterloo Bridge was a big hit - one of the first films to portray the darkness enveloping Europe (the US would not fight for almost another two years). The tale of lost love and missed chances opens in London with the start of WWII the year before, yet most of the action takes place in WWI, and is told as flashbacks. Leigh campaigned hard to get her husband Laurence Olivier to star opposite her. She lost that battle but said the role was one of her favorites. Today the film is a cult hit among young Chinese. No one knows why.