Trevor Howard in The Passionate Friends (1949)
Vitals
Trevor Howard as Steven Stratton, romantic biology professor
Switzerland, Summer 1948
Film: The Passionate Friends
Release Date: January 26, 1949
Director: David Lean
Costume Designer: Margaret Furse
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Based on H.G. Wells’ 1913 novel of the same name, The Passionate Friends was director David Lean’s second film in four years to star Trevor Howard as a dignified and dashing gentleman who sweeps a bored housewife off her feet. In this case, the woman in question is Mary Justin (Ann Todd), pleasantly—if dispassionately—married to respected financial advisor Howard Justin (Claude Rains).
The Passionate Friends begins with Mary’s arrival in Switzerland for a long overdue holiday, traveling with her husband’s dutiful secretary Miss Layton (Betty Ann Davies) with Howard himself to follow later. (Though set in Switzerland, these sequences were actually filmed just across the French border at Lac d’Annecy in Haute-Savoie.)
As Mary drifts to sleep in her luxurious suite at the Hotel Splendide, she recalls her previous romances with biology professor Steven Stratton (Trevor Howard), whom she last saw nine years earlier in London when their reunion resulted in an extramarital affair that nearly destroyed her marriage to Howard. Little does she know, coincidence—or fate—has brought Steven not only to the same lakeside luxury hotel but indeed the adjoining room.
The next morning against “a sunlit lake and snow-capped mountains and a holiday in Switzerland,” Mary and Steven spy each other across the hotel patio, instantly renewing the passion of their indiscreet flirtations. After the secretary tactfully excuses herself, Mary insists on joining Steven for his planned excursion across the lake and up into the majestic mountains. Here, isolated high in the Alps and perhaps regaling in Switzerland’s famous neutrality, the two former lovers share a picnic and—between her romantic daydreams—discuss their respective lives to resolve Mary’s observation that they’ve become “practically strangers” in the near-decade since they last saw each other. Steven relays that he’s now a happily married father of two, while Mary shares that she and Howard have built a more comfortable marriage.
Though affectionate, Steven and Mary’s reunion evidently remained platonic, but the humiliation is too much to bear for Howard—who arrived early and witnesses the two sharing a final embrace, Steven’s luggage being removed from his adjoining room, and an emotional Mary waving a fervent farewell from the balcony—so the cuckolded Mr. Justin finally demands a divorce.
Life imitated art as director David Lean and lead actress Ann Todd, both married during production, fell in love during the filming and left their respective spouses to marry each other in May 1949, four months after the film’s release. Coincidentally the third marriage for each of them, the union would dissolve in divorce in July 1957, with Todd never to remarry while the serial womanizer Lean married three more times before his death in 1991.
What’d He Wear?
Steven arrives on the patio wearing a white short-sleeved sports shirt in a slubby lightweight material that suggests either linen or raw silk, both of which would be breathable under the warm summer sun. The shirt has buttons widely spaced up the plain front (also known as a “French placket”), leaving the top two undone to show his day cravat. The shirt also has a large point collar and a breast pocket that further signals its informality.
Steven politely makes small talk between an excited Mary and an increasingly uncomfortable Miss Layton, who soon departs to allow the two former lovers to reconnect without interference—and, presumably, to assuage her own guilt.
Steven adds a comfortably rakish element to his sportswear with a day cravat, knotted from a dark silk scarf patterned with an all-over “teardrop” paisley print. This sophisticated neckwear maintains a degree of functional decorum, allowing Steven to comfortably keep the top few buttons of his shirt undone in the heat while the cravat prevents this from being too revealing while also serving as an easily laundered sweat-catcher.
Are they lovers?
Worse.
Steven tucks the shirt into mid-colored wool trousers with an era-correct long rise and double pleats in the traditionally English forward-facing direction, creating a fashionable and comfortable roominess through the legs. The trousers are held up by a matching self-belt that closes through a small, single-prong buckle. In addition to the straight on-seam side pocket openings, the set-in back-right pocket is covered with a pointed flap that closes through a single button.
The trouser bottoms are finished with turn-ups (cuffs) that fully break over his shoes, which both their appearance and the informal context suggest are likely a shade of brown leather. These shoes aren’t prominently seen on screen, but some behind-the-scenes photography clearly depict Trevor Howard in this outfit wearing apron-toe loafers—each styled with a strap over the vamp but without the defining slot that would characterize them as “penny loafers” like the G.H. Bass “Weejuns” that had bee introduced in the United States a decade earlier.
To adjust for the cooler mountain climate, Steven brings a long-sleeved sweater that he pulls on over his shirt as a series of cable cars shepherd him and Mary up into the Alps. Though the sweater serves as a practical extra layer, he wears it with intention by folding the shirt’s collar outside the sweater’s crew-neck opening. The neckline, cuffs, and hem are all widely ribbed.
The light-colored wool sweater’s plain-woven body is knitted to present two deep “V”-shaped chevrons of tightly horizontal-ribbed fabric, matching the knit patterns along the shoulders and around the set-in armholes. This pattern and the subtle pilling throughout the body suggests that Steven may also wear the sweater for skiing.
Sometime between his morning coffee and joining Mary in the Chris-Craft taking them across the lake and back, Steven straps on a dress watch that is characteristic of men’s wristwatches from the era. The handsome timepiece’s case is slightly swelled on each side like a tonneau case, and the light-colored rectangular dial features a shaded oval in the center that may suggest its manufacturer or an additional complication. Rather than directly in the center aligned with 3 o’clock, the winding crown appears positioned higher, closer to 2 o’clock. He wears it on a dark leather bracelet.
How to Get the Look
Trevor Howard in The Passionate Friends (1949)
During the Swiss holiday scenes in The Passionate Friends, Trevor Howard models how to smartly layer sophisticated sportswear for transitional seasons where the weather may fluctuate from a warm lakeside morning to a cooler afternoon in the mountains.
- White linen short-sleeved shirt with large point collar, breast pocket, and plain front
- Dark paisley-print silk day cravat
- Light-colored wool crew-neck sweater with double horizontal-ribbed “V” chest patterns, set-in sleeves with ribbed cuffs, and ribbed hem
- Mid-colored wool double forward-pleated long-rise trousers with self-belt, straight/on-seam side pockets, set-in back-right pocket (with single-button pointed flap), and turn-ups/cuffs
- Brown leather apron-toe loafers
- Tonneau-cased dress watch with light rectangular dial on dark leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
I always knew we’d meet again one day, but I never imaged it would be quite like this.
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