Please don't spend money on this.

Disturbing yet enthralling

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

John Garfield, a greatly underrated actor, with a sadly short career, was the first real "modern" actor pre-Brando. He is stellar as the working class hero struggling with financial setbacks, unrealized ambitions and a new marriage. He imbues the character of Rims Rosson with a poignancy illustrating the inner turmoil of a man whose responsibilities and love for his wife conflict with his desire to accomplish his dream of travel and professional distinction. Claude Rains, as the titular head of this extended family, a man toiling for years at a company desk as bookkeeper, lends heart and dignity to this story of a father driven to carry out the ultimate sacrifice in order to aid the newlyweds. Ann Shirley gives an adequate performance as the modest, simple wife whose expectations and worldly ambitions starts and end with marriage. Although produced earlier on stage and film, the story elements are timeless. This 1940 movie version is an excellent slice of life representing the American "everyman" in a Depression era America on the brink of World War II.

This film is a comedy with sad parts. If you want to see the past, the fashions, the way women were treated, or just escape from modern films, you might enjoy this. I watched it solely for Claude Rains, but found the female lead to be very likable and certainly very pretty. A girl of 22 meets a man at her new job, and they begin a solid friendship. I liked that she wasn't a typical girlie-girl, trying to catch a man. She was a person first and very honest. It's her sister who is determined the two must marry. The marriage runs into trouble mostly due to finances--nothing much has changed in America, has it! Claude Rains is absolutely charming as ever, kind, gentle, funny, and very devoted to his daughter. It shocked me that a 1940s film, or any father, would tell his daughter it was OK for girls to sow some "wild oats" as well as boys! Dad's action toward the end of the film shocked me as well, and overall this was a fairly poorly written, unrealistic kitchen-sink drama. However, Anne Shirley is so lovely and likable, and Claude Rains is wonderful. Great to see him not playing a villain or an overly intense individual for once (though he did that so well!) Worth seeing for those two actors. Without them, it would be a miss.

The director of this film died recently as we was approaching 100. Dennie Moore, who plays the common Gertie, with a typical Brooklyn accent, turns 99 in December.Wonderful seeing John Garfield in a non-gangster role. As the sympathetic Sims, an inventor whose a dreamer, Garfield etches a totally believable character. Anne Shirley plays the girl who loves and tricks him into marriage.Garfield plays basically another George Bailey type. The opportunities are there for him but situations arise which prevent him from fulfilling his dreams.Claude Rains plays his philosophical father-in-law who plots to do away with himself so that Garfield and Shirley can live happily ever after.The two work in the same office, fall in love and marry. With the coming of war, she gets laid off and he is asked to take a pay cut.Sad but realistic. This true to life film does end happily.

I've been watching any John Garfield films I can lately, and so far, this has been the most disappointing. Garfield is so miscast. I can't imagine what the studio was thinking. The film attempts to deal with the issue of young marriage facing poverty, but every character is so naive that I often found myself wondering if there was a gas leak in their building. It's the only rational way to explain their inability to cope with major problems at anything other than a fifth grade level. Garfield, who was Brando before there even was a Brando, is thoroughly wasted here. He plays his character as a sort of slack-jawed mope, who either pouts or widens his eyes at every little thing. Anne Shirley is attractive, but bland. Claude Rains starts promisingly, but even he can't surmount the problems inherent in the script. The film also commits the horror of having a character use the title in a dramatic moment in the end, summing up the entire film just before the credits roll. As if people really talk like that. John Garfield is amazing, and worth watching in just about anything. But not this.