Janie (1944)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Josephine Bentham (play)
Charles Hoffman (writer)

Release Date:

2 September 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

She's the gleam in the eye of every G.I.! It's an All-American riot!

Plot:

Janie is a scatter-brained and high spirited teenage girl living in the small town of Hortonville. World...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Army | Father Daughter Relationship | Tricycle | Blanket Party

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Joyce Reynolds	...	Janie Conway
Robert Hutton	...	Pfc. Dick Lawrence
Edward Arnold	...	Charles Conway
Ann Harding	...	Lucille Conway
Alan Hale	...	Prof. Matthew Q. Reardon
Robert Benchley	...	John Van Brunt
Clare Foley	...	Elsbeth Conway
Barbara Brown	...	Thelma Lawrence
Hattie McDaniel	...	April, Conway's Maid
Richard Erdman	...	Scooper Nolan (as Dick Erdman)
Jackie Moran	...	Mickey a Sailor
Ann Gillis	...	Paula Rainey
Russell Hicks	...	Col. Lucas, Commander Camp Wingate
Ruth Tobey	...	Bernadine Dodd
Virginia Patton	...	Carrie Lou

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Janie and her boyfriend appear on the cover of Life magazine in mid-smooch, her family has to skim contents before understanding why she is the cover girl (a feature on teenage make-out "blanket parties"). In reality, Life covers of this era always contained a few words of copy to explain nature of story depicted.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Janie Gets Married (1946)

Soundtrack:

The Campbells Are Coming

How We Won the War

Now we know how America won the war. There's more sheer bounce and energy in this 1944 family comedy than in the Nazi invasion of Poland. The gag lines and wisecracks fly faster than speeding bullets, while director-General Raoul Walsh cranks up the movie engine to jet speed. Note the constant movement inside the house as people are always going here and there. Shrewd move-- adapting a film from a stage play is like moving into a a coat closet if you're not careful. Not much of a plot-- something about soldier-boys coming to steal the local girls from their highschool sweethearts, creating a big commotion at the same time.

But who cares, with such a great cast right down to bratty little Elspeth who gets all the good lines and does nothing without being paid. Already she's learned our great economic lesson. The trouble is Dad can't figure out the younger generation because he's forgotten his own, while Mom can't seem to figure out which service uniform to wear. But that's alright because she looks good in all of them. And of course there's Janie, all spunk and glow, with her own army of boy-hungry pals. Together, they keep the phones buzzing with enough animal pizazz to light up a defense factory.

Check out the cutting-edge teens of the day-- taking a blanket on a "smooching" date with just a few hundred others. Now Dad's in an uproar when he finds out, but that's nothing compared to what he and Mom find after coming home late. There's the sailor in the bedroom, the soldier in the bathroom, and the wall gone flat in the living-room. Naturally, there's an innocent explanation for everything. And, of course, the invading servicemen were nothing but gentlemen the whole time.

Hard to believe that boys like these were dying by the thousands on the beach-heads of Normandy and Saipan. None of that here. After all, it's the Janie's of the world, safe and shielded, that the boys were fighting for. Even if it's just 90 minutes, what a great escape from all those other horrors. This is small town America, about to undergo a sea change. You can hear the waves lapping already. It's really not just the army that's come to Hortonville; it's the outside world. And all the malt shops, "smooching" parties, and small town innocence will never be the same once the war ends. This is not only a darn good little comedy-- but also a darn good little time capsule worth preserving.