Waterloo Bridge

Year: 1931

Runtime: 81 mins

Language: English

Director: James Whale

WarDramaRomance

Set in wartime London, Myra, an American chorus girl left without work, earns money by meeting men on Waterloo Bridge. During a Zeppelin raid she encounters Roy, a naïve American who has joined the Canadian army. They fall in love, but Roy deceives her into visiting his family’s country estate, where his mother has remarried a retired British major. Unaware of Myra’s past, Roy’s plans strain their budding relationship.

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Waterloo Bridge (1931) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of Waterloo Bridge (1931), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

Unable to find work in London at the height of World War I, American chorus girl Myra Deauville, Mae Clarke, resorts to prostitution to support herself. She sometimes meets her clients on Waterloo Bridge, the primary entry point into the city for soldiers on military leave. During an air raid, she meets fellow American Roy Cronin, Douglass Montgomery, a soldier serving with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Distracted from her original plans by the air raid, she makes no attempt to solicit him, and the naïve young soldier remains unaware of her profession. After the bombing stops, Roy escorts her to her apartment, where the two have dinner.

Describing herself simply as an unemployed chorus girl, Myra gains Roy’s sympathy. He offers to pay her overdue rent, but she rejects his offer. After the all clear is sounded, Roy departs, and Myra returns to the streets. The following morning, Roy returns to visit her, and landlady Mrs. Hobley, Ethel Griffies, lets him into her apartment. There he meets Myra’s friend and neighbor Kitty, Doris Lloyd, who tells him Myra needs someone to love and protect her. Myra later berates Kitty for interfering and rejects her advice to marry Roy to ensure a better future for herself.

Roy takes Myra to visit his family at their country estate, where he proposes to her. Later that night she tells Roy’s mother, Mary Cronin Wetherby, Enid Bennett, the truth about herself. Mary is sympathetic but implores Myra not to marry Roy. The following morning, Myra slips away and returns to London by train. Eventually Roy visits her and asks her to explain her abrupt departure. Because he is on the verge of returning to the battlefields in France, he begs Myra to marry him immediately. Initially she agrees, but after asking him to wait outside in the hall, she changes her mind and escapes through the apartment window. Seeking the rent, Mrs. Hobley enters, and believing Myra has run off to avoid her financial obligation, reveals her true profession to Roy.

Although shocked, Roy searches for Myra and eventually finds her on Waterloo Bridge, where he tells her he still loves and wants to marry her. The military police insist Roy join a truck of departing soldiers or be considered a deserter, and once he secures Myra’s promises to marry him upon his return, he departs. The air raid sirens sound, and as Myra seeks shelter, she is killed by a bomb.

Last Updated: October 07, 2025 at 09:28

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