I found this English Romance heartwarming and exciting. When this beautiful country girl named Megan comes to the aid of a young barrister who injured his ankle while passing through her homeland with a friend, she falls in love. This story reminds me of the innocence of country life and the social pressures of the olden times for a girl to marry and not have a career. Megan is a gal who's heart runs free and wants to be cared for by a loving gentleman. The suspense builds when there's competition between two lads and who does she choose? This story makes me yearn for the best for Megan and her love. This story keeps you on the edge of your seat as to how this couple winds up.

The basic plot, on the surface, tells a simple tale of a very common happening through the centuries, in England, as well as the rest of Europe. A young unmarried gentleman 'sows his oats' with a poor trusting peasant girl, then abandons her to marry an often spoiled girl of his own class. However, this case is a bit out of the ordinary in that the gentleman felt a real love for this girl and didn't intend to abandon his promise to marry her, until a series of unexpected events compressed into a couple of days caused him to get cold feet and make a fateful decision. He was swayed by the common advice to young upper class gentleman to 'never make the mistake of marrying your mistress', and let his head overrule his heart at the last minute. Unfortunately for Megan: the girl involved, Frank Ashton, the gentleman involved, was not the sort to keep a mistress on the side. Thus, he never sought her out again until it was far too late. Thus,she was left to care for their infant son he didn't know existed, and soon thereafter died of a combination of depression and a winter illness. This, Ashton didn't learn until many years later.The screenplay contrasts the earthy communal feel of rural English peasantry with the city world of uncaring bureaucracy-obsessed arrogant bankers and out-of-touch leisured upper class families. Of course, this is a caricature that doesn't always ring true. Nonetheless, we are treated to the perception of Megan as a carefree young woman, full of fun, yet skilled in the tasks of a farm girl: a girl with self confidence in caring for children in a fun way and doing the common chores of a housewife, capable of real passion in a romantic relationship with the right man, despite disapproval by her family. The background music for the film was quite appropriate in helping to accentuate it's various moods.This story has personal relevance to me, as I didn't make Ashton's mistake. Against all advice, I decided to marry a girl rather like Megan, from a poor family on the other side of the world, of quite a different race and non-western culture, and whom I had known only a short while. Despite many challenges, it has generally worked out well for 20+ years, thus far. With my considerable financial and knowledge help, she became a medical professional and has adapted well to US culture, while retaining a keen interest in her native family and culture. However, you must begin with the right two people for this to work out well over the long run.

A Summer Story opens with the year of 1922, after the first world war, but quickly goes back to 1902, the year of "The Gilded Age."Two young men, on a journey, are setting across Somerset, when one injures his foot while trying to jump a gate. The two find a young girl, who leads them to a place where they can stay. The tranquil setting is too boring for one of the two young men, so he leaves, while his friend, with the injured foot stays on.A romance begins to start with the girl. The only problem is, the home owner's son also has feelings for her.This movie has great photography, one of the finest soundtracks by well known film composer Georges Delurues, and a very enduring love story.The landscape settings are unequaled. The only fault I would have for this film is that it has not been remastered for release on DVD. Don't Be Fooled!!!! The DVD that is available is a simple transfer from a VHS tape! This movie deserves a good transfer to DVD and Blue-Ray.You might find it interesting to know that the soundtrack album is worth anywhere from $200 to $250, as it was released for a very short time in 1988 by Virgin Records, and because of the quality of the music, considered Delurues' finest, is in high demand.The film has not been shown on the premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime or Starz) since 1991. It is long due for a repeat presentation.If you get the opportunity to watch this movie, do it! I don't think you will be disappointed. The running time is 97 minutes. It was released in 1988.I hope the distributors for this movie will see this review and get the hint and make a proper transfer to DVD and Blue-Ray. "A Summer Story" deserves nothing less.

I watched this movie way back in 1995 on Star Movies. It was not recommended and I was just changing channels when I stumbled upon this movie (luckily). It had just started so I thought I'll just check the start and I couldn't change the channel till it was over. A brilliant movie. The name of the movie struck me. I have a few friends who are movie buffs and I had told them about this movie but they had not seen this movie, I thought it was odd that only I liked this movie. But now after reading all the reviews, I'm glad that there are so many people who appreciate this movie. It really is a movie many have not seen.What can I say about the movie, it's mesmerizing. Strongly recommended. Just go for it, worth an experience.