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Don't Believe the Hype

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A Disappointing Continuation

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

A few years ago, this would have been considered a woman's movie, dealing as it does with romantic relationships and family. Now it's basically a time capsule, showing a revealing, if idealized, portrait of the home front during WWII. The stars are certainly attractive and winning. Morgan and Parker manage an exceptional on-screen chemistry that converts what might otherwise be treacle into rather poignant drama. It's not surprising that Parker went on to a number of Oscar nominations.Produced during the war (1944), the movie shows how traditional rituals of courtship, marriage, and fidelity have been undercut by wartime priorities. Morgan and Parker are attracted to each other. But after a brief courtship, they must decide whether to marry since he's being sent off to the war front. For example, she must consider what if he's killed. Then she would be a war widow with maybe a child and no prospects for future marriage. And what of him. Is he asking too much of her. Those letters from home may be a lifeline, but what if he gets a Dear John instead. After all, Janet's (Parker) sister Molly (King) is running around on her army husband. These are the kind of uncertainties the couple must face because of the war's disruption of normal civilian life, while the screenplay does a good job of raising them.I can't help noticing that Jerry Wald acted as the producer for Warner Bros., which means the studio considered this a prestige production. Despite the many location shots, it's not a budget-heavy film. Still, there is considerable care with detail. Note that the lengthy beach scene is staged at the beach with no budget-cutting process shots, which cheaper productions undoubtedly would have used. Then too, the many supporting roles are almost uniformly well-cast, right down to lively little Ellie (Settle).My only real reservation is with Molly's sudden turn-around, a gesture, I suppose, to sunny commercialism. Then too, note the background picture of wartime Japanese Prime Minister Tojo, plus liberal use of negative term 'Jap'. Both would quickly disappear after the war. Nonetheless, the movie remains an entertaining look at how personal relationships were having to adjust to wartime priorities. And is, therefore, worth a look.

I had very low expectations when I saw this yesterday. "Nothing else on" television was the excuse I made myself for watching it. I had no particular interest in the leads (though Eleanor Parker was good as the baroness in Sound of Music, I didn't really know her otherwise) and Morgan had generally left me flat (though I did like him in Christmas in Connecticut).And then I saw this quite realistic dialog about picking up two girls on a bus - and following them - and their reactions! And then a very strange bickering family - unlike any I expected to see in a World War II film - where families are almost always peaches and cream. And I thought, "well, this movie is different!" It got better and better and better - primarily because you really are brought to believe that despite despite overwhelming odds, these two - Parker and Morgan - really do fall in love. They're very modest, they've such limited hopes, and those hopes are so fragile - that you root for these two very gentle modest people so intently - as almost everyone they know - as well as all the worldwide events, conspire against them.It's a very simple movie plot that is told with such verve, such overwhelming conviction by the participants fully invested in the wonder of the tale, that you are simply swept away. With low expectations, I just love it - and looked to buy it when I next came to the computer.There are few movies that seem to bring people from another decade right into your home - real people with besetting problems and far from ideal surroundings - and whom you want to succeed so very badly.Thanks to all who participated in this movie! You won no awards but you certainly won my heart!

When I first saw the movie I fell in love with it and the leading actor. I found it to be one of the most romantic movies I had seen in a long time and I have not seen anything made today that has changed my opinion. The acting in the film was excellent. Dane Clark is very understated and very believable. I would recomend this movie to anyone or any age.

This is an impressive drama about the other side of the familiar "Dear John" plot in World War II movies -- that is, what the women back home went through in fear, loneliness, and temptation while their boyfriends and husbands were far away, perhaps never to return. If you think of 40's movies as prudish, you'll be surprised by lines like, "I can't remember anymore the way it felt when we made love."Sidebar: A supporting actress, the later-famous Faye Emerson, had just married FDR's son Elliott when this film was released. Also, if you live in L.A., you'll enjoy scenes on the Cal Tech campus and on Mt. Wilson.