This movie won an Oscar for best writing, original story, and that says something when you remember that it was released in 1945, as millions of men, after having served in the war, were returning to their wives, many of whom had gone through live-changing experiences on the home front during their absence. Yes, there would be clashes, as two now very different individuals met each other. But that could not lead to divorce, not in 1945. So the movie had to find a way of resolving those differences and reuniting the couple. How it does that may not please all 21st century viewers, especially women, but they need to remember that any other conclusion probably would not have been allowed by the film censors of the day.
If you can look past the ending at what happens before, you'll find a fairly obvious but well-acted movie. The Wilsons, especially Robert Wilson, are almost comically boring in the first part of the movie. And then they each blossom into far more interesting individuals very quickly once they enter the war and have to deal with life and death issues. Donat and Kerr were both first-rate actors, and they manage to give a third dimension to what could have remained very flat, stereotypical caricatures.
And Ann Todd is truly beautiful to look at in her short scenes as a nurse.
Nor is Kerr hard on the eyes when she is done up as a "pin up girl," as Robert Wilson discovers to his very great surprise - and our amusement - when, after having told her in the almost dark that he wants to divorce her, they move into a pub and he gets his first glimpse of her in real light. That's one of the best scenes in the movie.
The final scenes, from there to the end, run on too long, even though they are the most important in the movie, indeed the movie's very reason for being made. The last scene, when the Wilsons talk about rebuilding blitz-bombed London as they look at it from the height of their flat window, feels as if it could have been accompanied by a chorus singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" or "They'll be forever an England" or something like that. But there was morale to be kept up, and that was important.
So if you like either of the leads, treat yourself to this with the understanding that it's not a great movie, but it has several fine performances in a movie that had to be made, and had to end as it did, because there were things more important than making great movies at stake in 1945.
If you can look past the ending at what happens before, you'll find a fairly obvious but well-acted movie. The Wilsons, especially Robert Wilson, are almost comically boring in the first part of the movie. And then they each blossom into far more interesting individuals very quickly once they enter the war and have to deal with life and death issues. Donat and Kerr were both first-rate actors, and they manage to give a third dimension to what could have remained very flat, stereotypical caricatures.
And Ann Todd is truly beautiful to look at in her short scenes as a nurse.
Nor is Kerr hard on the eyes when she is done up as a "pin up girl," as Robert Wilson discovers to his very great surprise - and our amusement - when, after having told her in the almost dark that he wants to divorce her, they move into a pub and he gets his first glimpse of her in real light. That's one of the best scenes in the movie.
The final scenes, from there to the end, run on too long, even though they are the most important in the movie, indeed the movie's very reason for being made. The last scene, when the Wilsons talk about rebuilding blitz-bombed London as they look at it from the height of their flat window, feels as if it could have been accompanied by a chorus singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" or "They'll be forever an England" or something like that. But there was morale to be kept up, and that was important.
So if you like either of the leads, treat yourself to this with the understanding that it's not a great movie, but it has several fine performances in a movie that had to be made, and had to end as it did, because there were things more important than making great movies at stake in 1945.