Watch I'll Be Seeing You For Free

That was an excellent one.

Redundant and unnecessary.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Low-key, very simple Christmas time (although the film doesn't emphasize the season so dutifully as other films set in the holiday often do) developing romantic melodrama. Ginger Rogers (her career on fire at this time) is serving time for an accidental murder (manslaughter as a struggle caused the victim to go out a 14-story window!) and given a furlough (leave for an 8-day vacation with her relatives (Spring Byington, Tom Tully, and Shirley Temple)) for the holidays. She meets Joseph Cotten, a well-decorated soldier who is currently on leave due to psychological issues stemming from WWII (early precursor to PTSD). Their problems are kept secret from each other, but the truth is bound to eventually surface.Although O. Selznick has his name all over it, I didn't necessarily think this little film was full of bombast, pomp or circumstance. Both Rogers and Cotten deliver very subdued performances, and I think the film is all the better for it. There's no shouting matches or clinched teeth, just adults learning to grapple with the difficulties of life while falling in love with each other. I realize this might seem like a plot full of soap opera sap, but I think the characters are developed in a way that isn't too tiresome. In the vein of 40s melodramas, you could do a lot worse than this.While Cotten is quietly dealing with demons that torment him--but doing so by not embellishing his emotional troubles as if boxing them away to deal with on his own--Rogers endures the knowledge that she is on a short trip, her sentence not yet over, and the holidays provides just a momentary release.The film is, by and large, a romance. Shirley Temple is a teenager crazy about soldier boys, and her innocence and naïveté is rather amusing. Her mother, Byington (I know her from Werewolf of London (1935)) stays real busy around the house cooking and cleaning, as well as, managing her household. She admits in one scene that she married "down", recognizing her lot in life (kind of sad, but we see that her joy with her husband seems quite legit), to Rogers when the two talk about the past, present, and future. Rogers is the kind of actress that can make dialogue about "wanting a normal life, a family and future" when contemplating her current situation authentically without falling prey to the overwrought or turning on the waterworks too much. Cotten, even when attacked by a dog during a rather startling scene, always maintains his resolve, walking away when he gets unsettled or bothered. One key scene has him in sweats and clinched fists in room he stays temporarily. Another has the one and only Chill Wills describing a war experience and taking it to the enemy (but surrendered to a diner waiter due to a twitch) as Cotten must walk out because he can't take it anymore. Even the ending, after learning the truth from gabby Shirley and distancing himself from her due to surprise, Cotten doesn't go overboard…he's silent and introspective. And when the two lovebirds finally embrace, it is nicely played in a rather modest, not overly dramatic way. Probably not the ideal "Christmas movie", but a possible treat for those who love these kinds of 40s melodrama. Good cast helps a great deal.

An army sergeant with PTSD is released from rehab but has no place to go. On a train he meets Mary who's coming home on leave from state prison. He follows her to her town, but despite the mutual attraction, each has a past to hide.For those who like WWII domestic dramas, this is a good one. Of course, the Marshall homefront family is idealized in the manner of the day, including Mary's perky teenage sister (Temple), a perpetually sunny mother (Byington), and a gruffly affable Dad (Tully). I like the way Cotten (Sergeant Zach) and Rogers (Mary) meet up. The chemistry is strong but so is the hesitancy since each must maneuver around past troubles. Plus, Cotten never knows when the stress disorder will strike. His one bad episode, filmed from a subjective pov, helps keep events from getting too saccharine. It also lends a note of combat realism for what was then a widely misunderstood disorder. Then too, Mary's guilty of manslaughter, a serious crime regardless the circumstances, which in Mary's case are morally blameless (protecting herself from a predatory man).This is the usually spirited Rogers as she's seldom seen, subdued and hesitant. Still, she's excellent, such that it's small wonder Cotten's Zach is quickly smitten. Cotten too calibrates in low-key fashion, showing why he was so good at civilized disturbance (Shadow of a Doubt {1943}). Anyway, the chemistry between the two carries the 85-minutes, despite the soap opera elements; fortunately there's less milking of these elements than might be expected. All in all, the Selznick production remains polished entertainment from Hollywood's golden period, and a good glimpse of Hollywood's homefront, circa 1945.

I'LL BE SEEING YOU (1944) will, for once and for all, change all perceptions of Hollywood during WWII. This very adult, mature and touching film deals with a soldier suffering from PTSD and a woman on furlough from prison for the holiday season. Devoid of all sentimentality, I'LL BE SEEING YOU deals frankly with the impact of war on soldiers while equally dealing with the hardships facing Americans during the war and in particular the plight of women, not as they wait for their men to return but as they are exploited both for labor and sex. What's perhaps best about I'LL BE SEEING YOU is that it stays clear of easy plot points and conflicts you may expect and instead paints a portrait of sadness and hardship but simultaneously the true and right way we humans should behave. Simply stellar!

This is not a traditional Christmas movie, but it is set a week before Christmas and ends just after the New Year. For that reason, I do watch this film every holiday season, because it captures the old fashioned family and Christmas mood so well. Yes the story may be a little bit overly maudlin, and off-beat, but somehow it works, and remember this is the 1940s. The cast is a perfect ensemble for this story. Joseph Cotten plays a shell-shocked soldier, his doctors have furloughed him for the Christmas holidays, and he encounters Ginger Rogers, on a train going to visit her relatives for the holidays, but she has a dark secret, she to is on a furlough from prison. Joseph Cotten gives a marvellously balanced performance, that creates real depth to his character. Ginger Rogers acting is very pleasing, for you can really feel how hard it is for her to keep the secret hidden from Cotten, making her character's quandary all the more believable. Shirley Temple was a real teenager when this film was made, and she is perfect for her part, sweet but as all teenagers are, thinks she is just as smart as the adults. Spring Byington is her usual warm and lovable self as the Aunt of Rogers and Temple's mother. Tom Tully rounds out the cast as Byington's laid-back, understanding husband. Put it all together and surprisingly you have a lovely, heartwarming story, chock full of sentiment. I suggest it's worth a look.