Better Late Then Never

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

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.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

I had much the same reaction to "Since You Went Away" that I had to "Mrs. Miniver" when I finally saw it. I had preconceived notions that both were going to be schmaltzy, maudlin melodramas capitalizing on World War II audiences' emotions for maximum sentimentality. Instead, I was impressed by how thoughtful both were, and found myself quite moved by them even all these years later."Since You Went Away" doesn't carry quite the same punch, because it's not about people literally surviving warfare on their homeland. But it's still a fascinating account of what it was like for the women who were left behind when their husbands, sons, and brothers went off to war. In other war movies, women aren't given much to do but sit and pine away, clutching the occasional letter to their heaving breasts. But in this one, we see that life went on for the women one way or another. They had to put food on the table, run errands, get things done. And a certain kind of woman, played in a lovely performance by Claudette Colbert in this one, didn't know how to do any of those things because they never had to. War time, and the financial straits that came with it, meant they had to do without their maids and cooks and nannies and start doing things for themselves, planting the seeds that would eventually lead to the modern feminist movement.I could have done with less of Jennifer Jones, who plays Colbert's eldest daughter and gets a story line about doomed love with a young soldier (Robert Walker). Jones isn't much of an actress, and while the rest of the film has a practical, roll-your-sleeves-up quality, this plot strand, while I'm sure it resonated with audiences at the time, tips the film into melodrama too frequently and makes it very long. I much more enjoyed the scenes with Monty Woolley as an irascible boarder, and especially those with Agnes Moorehead, who could have been cast in every movie ever made with no arguments from me. She plays a friend of Colbert's who has the luxury of being callously blithe about everything to do with the war since she doesn't have any personal stake in it. This was something I hadn't ever really thought about with WWII, and found parallels with things going on in our country right now, like for instance the Black Lives Matter movement, an issue that lots of people care strongly about and other people have the luxury of not caring about because it doesn't affect them. It just goes to show how wrong people are when they assume old movies have nothing to say to modern audiences."Since You Went Away" was one of the big competitors at the 1944 Oscars, but it walked away with only one actual award, for Max Steiner's score. It was nominated in eight other categories, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actress (Colbert), Best Supporting Actor (Woolley), Best Supporting Actress (Jones), Best Art Direction (B&W), Best Cinematography (B&W), Best Film Editing, and Best Special Effects, a bit of a head scratcher. Many of the folks nominated for the technical awards were nominated several years earlier in the same categories for "Gone with the Wind," no big surprise as this film was one of David Selznick's attempts to recapture the grandeur and success of that earlier picture.Grade: A

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I see a lot of criticism here about the acting and the amount of overacting but that was normal for films in the 1940s, as the craft transitioned from live plays and poor quality black and white reels to full-length films. There also seems to be a real lack of understanding about what would have been appropriate behavior and conversation in the 1940s.Selznick did a wonderful job from the casting to the set to the music. I know that the film is based loosely on letters published in a ladies magazine-Redbook, I think-between a wife at home with the kids and her husband off fighting in the war. The cast is terrific. The budding romance is amazing, considering that the actor and actress playing the parts were in the middle of a divorce in real life. The props were simple and homely-many from Selznick's home because money was so tight at the time. I love Anne Hilton and Claudette Colbert became a favorite after seeing this film 30+ years ago.

I watched this movie on TCM but I had to buy it because I have come to enjoy the older films more than the contemporary ones. I pulled it out this afternoon and watched it. I love all the actors in this film and the theme of hearth and home. That was the reason the men and women fought that war. It was sentimental and old fashioned but not in a schmaltzy way. Everyone pulled together because they were Americans and did their part for the war effort. It was very interesting to see mother and daughters playing gin rummy for things to do at night and doing hairstyles that were in Vogue. For entertainment, they all played charades at a party instead of watching TV and looking down at cell phones. How refreshing.

David Selznick cast the superb Claudette Colbert in his return film after winning back to back Oscars for Gone With The Wind and Rebecca, and was rewarded by the lovely star giving one of her trademark professional performances. While we all rave over the highly charged performances of Bette Davis, Susan Hayward, Barbara Stanwyck, Miss Colbert along with Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur is an actress whose body of work deserves review and applause.This is a story of a normal family during WWII, and beautifully acted by a supporting cast of Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple. David Selznick obsessed with Jennifer Jones cast Ms. Jones as Colbert's daughter and wickedly cast Jones' estranged husband Robert Walker as Jennifer's romantic lead. Of all the actors in Hollywood, why did Selznick put Jennifer thru the emotional wringer of working with her estranged husband Robert Walker? Why did Walker accept the role in a movie produced by his estranged wife's Lover?This is a beautiful movie, my favorite Holiday movie. A special note of kudos to the great Stanley Cortez for his memorable cinematography. This is the movie where one of the most famous, most iconic film moments of all time: The Train station sequence where Jennifer Jones chases after her lover played by Robert Walker as he departs for War.A Great Movie