London, 1971. Colin Trafford is a young Cambridge-educated physicist who works in the research department of a major British company. He is a bachelor.
London 1971. Oxford-educated Colin Trafford, a novelist and playwright, is a rising young star on the British literary scene. He is married to a beautiful young woman named Ottilie.
"Quest for Love" is one of the few films to revolve around the concept of alternate history. Colin the scientist is transported from our version of reality into a parallel universe when one of his experiments goes wrong. This universe is different from our own in a number of ways, having diverged from it in the late 1930s. In this world the Second World War never happened. The League of Nations still exists in 1971 and John F. Kennedy, who evidently did not die in Dallas in 1963, has just been appointed its Secretary General. The actor Leslie Howard is also still alive and Mount Everest is still unconquered. Britain still uses non-decimal currency, and things appear to be a lot cheaper. Crucially for the plot, medical science is less advanced in this world than in our own.
The film does not explore the political aspects of the differences between the two realities. We never learn, for example, how war was avoided in 1939 or whether the Nazis are still in power in Germany. The scriptwriters are more interested in exploring the relationship between Colin and Ottilie. When Colin the scientist suddenly finds himself in the alternative world, he soon realises that his alter ego in that world, Colin the writer, is not a pleasant individual. His marriage to Ottilie is breaking down because of his heavy drinking and frequent affairs with other women.
Colin the scientist's protestations that he and Colin the writer are two different people and that he has come from another universe are (understandably enough) not taken seriously. The only thing that prevents Colin the scientist from being certified as insane is that Colin the writer has a reputation for boasting and for wild and extravagant talk, especially when in his cups. Unlike his womanising alter ago, Colin the scientist falls deeply in love with Ottilie, and although she initially dismisses him as crazy, she too eventually falls in love with him, perhaps because she is convinced by his talk of alternative realities, perhaps because she is still in love with Colin the writer and will welcome any change of heart on his part, even if it does come accompanied by a lot of crazy talk. When Colin the scientist finds himself back in our own reality, he is determined to track down Ottilie's counterpart in this world. (A difficult task; Ottilie exists in our world, but goes by a different name).
From what I have seen of Ralph Thomas's other work, he has always struck me as a second-rate director, at his best in light comedy like the "Doctor" series. His version of "The 39 Steps" is greatly inferior to Hitchcock's, and "Clouded Yellow" is a confused and unconvincing film noir, looking like a pastiche of not just Hitch but also the likes of Carol Reed and Robert Hamer. He also has some even more unworthy entries on his CV, such as the dismal sex "comedy" "Percy" and its worse-than-dismal sequel "Percy's Progress". Perhaps his involvement was the reason why "Quest for Love" was not taken very seriously by the critics in 1971, but it has become one of my favourite British films of the seventies, and is certainly the best of Thomas's films which I have seen.
It reminds me of another romantic science fiction drama, the American-made "Somewhere in Time" from 1980, although that film is about time-travel back to the past rather than between parallel universes. Both involve a man's search for a woman he has known in another world and both have a similarly romantic atmosphere. At the heart of both films is a wonderful performance from a radiantly beautiful British actress, Jane Seymour in the later film and Joan Collins here. For those who think of Collins only in terms of sultry femmes fatales like Fontaine Khaled and Alexis Carrington, this film will come as a revelation. In what I would consider her best-ever performance, Collins shows that she was also able to create a character who was not only beautiful and desirable but also virtuous and utterly loveable.
Tom Bell as the two Colins and and Denholm Elliott as Colin's best friend (in both universes) are also good. It is often said that the British can only do sci-fi on television ("Doctor Who"). "Quest for Love" shows that they can sometimes do it in the cinema as well. 9/10.
London 1971. Oxford-educated Colin Trafford, a novelist and playwright, is a rising young star on the British literary scene. He is married to a beautiful young woman named Ottilie.
"Quest for Love" is one of the few films to revolve around the concept of alternate history. Colin the scientist is transported from our version of reality into a parallel universe when one of his experiments goes wrong. This universe is different from our own in a number of ways, having diverged from it in the late 1930s. In this world the Second World War never happened. The League of Nations still exists in 1971 and John F. Kennedy, who evidently did not die in Dallas in 1963, has just been appointed its Secretary General. The actor Leslie Howard is also still alive and Mount Everest is still unconquered. Britain still uses non-decimal currency, and things appear to be a lot cheaper. Crucially for the plot, medical science is less advanced in this world than in our own.
The film does not explore the political aspects of the differences between the two realities. We never learn, for example, how war was avoided in 1939 or whether the Nazis are still in power in Germany. The scriptwriters are more interested in exploring the relationship between Colin and Ottilie. When Colin the scientist suddenly finds himself in the alternative world, he soon realises that his alter ego in that world, Colin the writer, is not a pleasant individual. His marriage to Ottilie is breaking down because of his heavy drinking and frequent affairs with other women.
Colin the scientist's protestations that he and Colin the writer are two different people and that he has come from another universe are (understandably enough) not taken seriously. The only thing that prevents Colin the scientist from being certified as insane is that Colin the writer has a reputation for boasting and for wild and extravagant talk, especially when in his cups. Unlike his womanising alter ago, Colin the scientist falls deeply in love with Ottilie, and although she initially dismisses him as crazy, she too eventually falls in love with him, perhaps because she is convinced by his talk of alternative realities, perhaps because she is still in love with Colin the writer and will welcome any change of heart on his part, even if it does come accompanied by a lot of crazy talk. When Colin the scientist finds himself back in our own reality, he is determined to track down Ottilie's counterpart in this world. (A difficult task; Ottilie exists in our world, but goes by a different name).
From what I have seen of Ralph Thomas's other work, he has always struck me as a second-rate director, at his best in light comedy like the "Doctor" series. His version of "The 39 Steps" is greatly inferior to Hitchcock's, and "Clouded Yellow" is a confused and unconvincing film noir, looking like a pastiche of not just Hitch but also the likes of Carol Reed and Robert Hamer. He also has some even more unworthy entries on his CV, such as the dismal sex "comedy" "Percy" and its worse-than-dismal sequel "Percy's Progress". Perhaps his involvement was the reason why "Quest for Love" was not taken very seriously by the critics in 1971, but it has become one of my favourite British films of the seventies, and is certainly the best of Thomas's films which I have seen.
It reminds me of another romantic science fiction drama, the American-made "Somewhere in Time" from 1980, although that film is about time-travel back to the past rather than between parallel universes. Both involve a man's search for a woman he has known in another world and both have a similarly romantic atmosphere. At the heart of both films is a wonderful performance from a radiantly beautiful British actress, Jane Seymour in the later film and Joan Collins here. For those who think of Collins only in terms of sultry femmes fatales like Fontaine Khaled and Alexis Carrington, this film will come as a revelation. In what I would consider her best-ever performance, Collins shows that she was also able to create a character who was not only beautiful and desirable but also virtuous and utterly loveable.
Tom Bell as the two Colins and and Denholm Elliott as Colin's best friend (in both universes) are also good. It is often said that the British can only do sci-fi on television ("Doctor Who"). "Quest for Love" shows that they can sometimes do it in the cinema as well. 9/10.