The Lost Valentine
| The Lost Valentine | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster
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| Genre | Romance |
| Based on |
The Lost Valentine by James Michael Pratt |
| Screenplay by |
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| Directed by | Darnell Martin |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Mark Adler |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
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| Cinematography | Frank Prinzi |
| Editor(s) | Michael D. Ornstein |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Hallmark Hall of Fame |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release |
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| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | November Christmas |
| Followed by | Beyond the Blackboard |
The Lost Valentine is a 2011 American drama film starring Betty White, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Sean Faris. It is based on the novel by James Michael Pratt of the same name, previously titled The Last Valentine, a 1998 New York Times and USA Today bestseller. In December 2011, Betty White received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for her performance.
The story follows the characters of a TV journalist, Susan Allison (Hewitt), working on a profile of a woman, Caroline Thomas (White), whose husband naval aviator Lt. Neil Thomas was declared MIA sixty years ago during World War II. Susan immediately clashes with Caroline's grandson, Lucas Thomas (Faris), when he overhears her referring to the potential story as a fluff piece, rather than the very personal story it is, since she herself doubts if pure and true love exists. She apologizes, and manages to start the interview and starts spending time with both Caroline and Lucas. Her developing friendship with Lucas makes her have doubts about her relationship with her almost fiance, Andrew Hawthorne, a photographer who is frequently absent overseas.
The interview with Caroline reveals that for sixty-six years she has had no information about her husband from the Department of the Navy. She tells her story about how she and her husband met in 1943, married, and then renovated a house they had bought from her uncle (which is where Caroline still lives). After a year, and despite a child forthcoming, Neil felt he should help his country more than just acting as a training officer, so he went into combat. Their last moments together were at the Union train station, where she handed him a handmade valentine professing her everlasting love, as he departed on a train. Caroline remained strong, and sent many letters to Neil. On one occasion, Neil replied with a letter containing a small, handmade whittled wooden sculpture of a fighter plane for the baby. After that Caroline stopped receiving letters. Caroline, along with the entire neighborhood, dreaded the times when a Western Union deliveryman arrived in the neighborhood with a yellow telegram, since this meant that someone's loved one was reported to be dead or missing in action. Eventually, the moment where Caroline received one came, but the telegram stated that her husband was missing in action, so she refused to believe that he was dead. Since then Caroline has returned every year on Valentine's Day to the same train station to wait for him.
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Wikipedia