A film that I imagine struck a lot of chords with the audience in 1945. Alexander Korda efficiently marches us through the various phases for this couple: boring married life, saying goodbye at the outset of war, being newbies in their respective outfits (him: the navy, her: the wrens), facing grave danger bravely (both of them), growing as people, meeting someone new, and then reuniting three years later, each doubting why they were married in the first place and contemplating divorce. Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr are fine as the couple, and Glynis Johns adds a little spice as a savvy friend, but somewhere along the way it seemed just a little too linear and predictable, which strained my interest. I liked the arc of Kerr's character, who seems so brow-beaten at the beginning, not doing things like smoking because her husband doesn't want her to, which is something Johns mocks in the best little moment of the film. The film opts for sentimentality rather than carry this through to a more interesting conclusion though, something that I suppose was to be expected right after the war. Maybe if Donat and Kerr had a little more spark it would have been more compelling. It's not awful though.
Review of Vacation from Marriage
