This one is about New Zealand in wartime and the romantic entanglements of four kiwi sisters with American servicemen stationed in Christchurch and Wellington. Jean Simmons, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie and Sandra Dee play Barbara, Ann, Delia and Evelyn respectively, the nice middle-class Lesley girls whose men are away fighting in North Africa, and who find themselves drawn to the glamorous Americans.
"It's no use worrying about Delia. She's lost," opines Ann. Delia is the fallen woman, the girl whose head is turned by the sexual allure of the G.I.'s. She lands herself a job in Wellington in order to get away from South Island and the orbit of Ann, and also to situate herself in the middle of the highest possible concentration of Americans. Piper Laurie is ideal as the beautiful, doomed girl, and the only thing which detracts from an otherwise memorable performance is her difficulty concealing her American accent.
The tale is told from the subjective viewpoint of Barbara. Her husband left for the African campaign only a month after marrying her, but as the second-eldest of the Lesley girls, and a married woman, she has to shoulder a lot of responsibility for her sisters. She meets the handsome, embittered Major Harding (Paul Newman) and when, after the first encounter, she stops to look back at him, we know that she will fall in love. As Harding puts it, misquoting Shakespeare, "war makes strange bedfellows".
Ann is the eldest of the brood, and the one most preoccupied with respectability. She falls for Captain Bates (we see her suppress a smile when Barbara looks her way). What subsequently happens to Ann is meant to illustrate that it is only natural for men and women to couple, and that conventional notions of decency fly out of the bedroom window in wartime. However, the events which befall her, good and bad, are rather far-fetched and damage the story's overall credibility.
Even the youngest of the litter, schoolgirl Evelyn, has Tommy away fighting with ANZAC and Max here in Christchurch. How believable is this, given Evelyn's age and the mores of her time and social class?
The story contains too many dramatic sunderings and liaisons to be convincing. Would Barbara really trawl the hotels of Wellington, asking for Harding at each reception desk, when she could simply phone around? In its bid to appeal to the American market, the film goes in for grating Americanisms like courtroom witnesses "taking the stand".
Verdict - Pleasant romantic yarn which does not stand up to close scrutiny
"It's no use worrying about Delia. She's lost," opines Ann. Delia is the fallen woman, the girl whose head is turned by the sexual allure of the G.I.'s. She lands herself a job in Wellington in order to get away from South Island and the orbit of Ann, and also to situate herself in the middle of the highest possible concentration of Americans. Piper Laurie is ideal as the beautiful, doomed girl, and the only thing which detracts from an otherwise memorable performance is her difficulty concealing her American accent.
The tale is told from the subjective viewpoint of Barbara. Her husband left for the African campaign only a month after marrying her, but as the second-eldest of the Lesley girls, and a married woman, she has to shoulder a lot of responsibility for her sisters. She meets the handsome, embittered Major Harding (Paul Newman) and when, after the first encounter, she stops to look back at him, we know that she will fall in love. As Harding puts it, misquoting Shakespeare, "war makes strange bedfellows".
Ann is the eldest of the brood, and the one most preoccupied with respectability. She falls for Captain Bates (we see her suppress a smile when Barbara looks her way). What subsequently happens to Ann is meant to illustrate that it is only natural for men and women to couple, and that conventional notions of decency fly out of the bedroom window in wartime. However, the events which befall her, good and bad, are rather far-fetched and damage the story's overall credibility.
Even the youngest of the litter, schoolgirl Evelyn, has Tommy away fighting with ANZAC and Max here in Christchurch. How believable is this, given Evelyn's age and the mores of her time and social class?
The story contains too many dramatic sunderings and liaisons to be convincing. Would Barbara really trawl the hotels of Wellington, asking for Harding at each reception desk, when she could simply phone around? In its bid to appeal to the American market, the film goes in for grating Americanisms like courtroom witnesses "taking the stand".
Verdict - Pleasant romantic yarn which does not stand up to close scrutiny