Since You Went Away (1944)
In 1943, several people enter, re-enter, and exit the difficult life of a Midwestern family whose patriarch has been called up to war, leaving behind his wife and two teen daughters.
- John Cromwell
- Lowell J. Farrell
- David O. Selznick
- Margaret Buell Wilder
Rating: 6.4/10 by 46 users
Alternative Title:
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 02 hour 57 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0
Plot Keyword: based on novel or book, lodger, love, teenage girl, midwest, home front, war effort, rationing, mother daughter relationship
Claudette Colbert is great as the struggling "Anne", who must bring up her two daughters "Jane" (Jennifer Jones) and "Brig" (Shirley Temple) whilst her husband is off fighting in WWII. To assist with the usual problems of making ends meet, she must take in a lodger "Col. Smollett" (Monty Woolley). At times you cannot help but feel for this poor lady who is constantly at the end of her tether. Their lodger is fastidious to say the least - he hates children, pets and yes, who better to illustrate that military pomposity than an on-form Woolley. To add to her woes, the young "Jane" is obsessed with men - more particularly their family friend "Tony" (Joseph Cotton). A man some years her senior who joins the navy leaving poor old "Jane" unaware that she is the object of the affections of their house guest's rather hapless grandson "Bill" (Robert Walker). On the face of it, this all appears rather convoluted but Colbert, Woolley and Cotten really do gel well together providing a quickly paced and entertaining series of escapades that, though exaggerated, do ring true a little for many households during the war that were left bereft of funds and a father/husband. Temple features now and again, largely do-gooding for the war effort by collecting junk, and Jones delivers well as both girls have to grip up - whether they like it or not. Max Steiner provides a lively, jaunty, score that sets and keeps the pace engaging and sometimes frenetic - but it's Colbert who shows she is very much the star here. I enjoyed it.
