The problem with cinephilia is that eventually one feels that they begin to run out of ‘essential’ films to see. The act of watching movies is continually a process of discovery, but as one continues to watch films not as a hobby but as a part of their life-blood, it becomes harder to find individual titles that are revelatory and profound, movies that shape an alter not only your conception of cinema, but art and life as well. The more you see, the fewer new experiences you have – not only because you may have traversed the corners of whatever canon you’ve chosen to cover, but because individual titles become objects of interest accentuating a larger understanding of the medium rather than individual exploits of incredible worth. To see a truly outstanding film, then, becomes an even more rare and valuable occurrence. David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1946) is simply one of those films that I’m surprised I hadn’t seen before, not because I have any pretensions toward having anything approaching a “comprehensive” knowledge of film, but because it’s a work of such profound perfection that it seems only natural that this movie would have been made in this precise way. It’s an audacious, incongruous film, exceptional and unmatched. It’s a devastating and beautiful film that I’m not surprised has survived time’s test, for its themes are as insightful and resonant as its storytelling is engrossing and affecting.

This is not at all the first film adaptation of the classic tale, but the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty featuring Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard and Richard Harris might be the most iconic. This trailer boasts that the ship involved in Lewis Milestone‘s film is the first built from the keel up specifically for a motion picture. In a time where matte paintings replaced real world backgrounds, Milestone took his crew over the ocean to film, and the result was something as frighteningly realistic as possible. It also doesn’t hurt that his cast is one of the strongest ever assembled. With On Stranger Tides coming out tomorrow, it seems even more fitting that we should head out for the open sea with a couple of strong personalities.