Contentar
Best movie of this year hands down!
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Zandra
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
clanciai
A great film about a small world, the reality of four young wives with their husbands out in the war, sharing a common household to minimize expenses but not managing very well, so they hire a housemaid, who happens to come from Dresden, Germany, with fresh experience of the nastiness of the nazism that murdered that democracy. Yes, there is much war propaganda here, the year was 1943, so it was inevitable, but just forget it, and concentrate on the excellent direction of Edward Dmytryk (as usual) in bringing to life the reality of these soldiers' wives, one of them being Ginger Rogers (for once without any song or dance) and her husband being Robert Ryan as young and fresh and handsome as Gregory Peck. The best scenes are flashbacks of their marriage before the war, which gives a very intimate and interesting insight into the art of direction by Edward Dmytryk. He must have had an expert hand with women.And that's not all. The script is by a young and early Dalton Trumbo, later one of the best script writers of Hollywood after Ben Hecht, and the music adds to it as well. It's almost all domestic scenes inside the common house of the five dames, but it is outstanding as a chamber play. Some get their husbands back from the war, others do not. It is a unique film in its sensitivity of rendering the reality of soldiers' wives some justice and intimate documentation.
writers_reign
For better or worse this is one of the movies always cited when the subject of HUAC comes up, more than likely because writer Dalton Trumbo and director Edward Dymytryck were prominent members of the 'Hollywood Ten' and both served prison sentences. Ginger Rogers was, of course, in private life, a tad to the right of Ghengis Kahn and took exception to some of the dialogue she was asked to speak; the problem was solved by giving the dialogue to Mady Christians, the best actress in the film by a country mile and underused here. Seeing it now, for the first time, I enjoyed it as a wedge of social history and fine acting across the board. It also affords an early glimpse of Kim Hunter, who made her film debut in two films both released in the same year. Well worth a look.
Karl Ericsson
The first half hour of this film you wonder what both Dalton Trumbo and Edvard Dmytric were doing in it. That far in the movie, it was just a silly Hollywood Movie, typical for the time. And when the four ladies decide they need a maid, you really start to wonder what fascist film you are seeing and then suddenly the film strikes - the four girls decide to split their united salary five times and give the woman they've found the fifth part, since that would be democratic. For that alone the film deserves 10 stars and, sure enough, the film looses a little momentum after that and slides back into American silliness for a while. Nevertheless, the silliness is tender and a beautiful love story.By the way, need I say that the maid is of German origin and not necessarily a Jew? And then comes those final lines of dialogue about grabbing on to democracy so that you don't loose it - those lines, that make tender comrades of us all instead of competing swine.
JRis1-4Jesus
This romantic and exciting movie may have been made as early as 1942, the year after Pearl Harbor. The outcome of the war was no where near certain. The Germans were in complete control of Europe and parts of Africa. The Germans were bombing London daily. The Japanese controlled all of Southeast Asia, from Korea and Manchuria in the north to the Philippines in the south Pacific. The third member of the Axis, Italy had the largest air force in the world at the outbreak of world war 2. Our Pacific fleet was reeling from the losses at Pearl Harbor and from our losses at the victory at Midway. The French fleet was about to surrender.It is essentially the story of five women in the United States. Ginger Rogers as Jo Jones, Ruth Hussey as Barbara Thomas, Patricia Collinge as Helen Stacey, Kim Hunter as Doris Dumbrowski, the young very recently(war time romance)married young lady and Mady Christians as Manya Lodge. Four of them work together in a defense plant and the fifth (Manya) is a German-American who cannot be hired (there was a great deal of prejudice and wariness of both Germans and Japanese). The story has an emphasis on the Chris Jones family (Ginger Rogers and her husband High School sweetheart Robert Ryan). They are a non religious, Midwestern family, who act very normal for the 1940s. Ginger Rogers (who neither smoked, nor drank) is shown lighting up a cigarette and joyfully partaking in an alcoholic beverage. This was the way of the Hollywood world of the 1940s.All five ladies are married and have husbands serving in the armed forces. One of the ladies has a bad marriage and is hurting and seeking affirmation in the world. She thinks nothing of an extra pound of bacon or a little cheating on your rations or a date with an older man. (Yes, they rationed certain foods and fuels in WW2). Ginger Rogers and Manya, the German American whose husband is also in the US Army are very upset at the slightest cheating on the rationing system, as they reason that if 20 million women are cheating, only a pound of this or that a day, then the Army will be shorted their full supplies.Jo Jones(Ginger Rogers) who was visited by her husband just before he left for overseas, has a baby. The woman who is upset at her naval husband and about to go out on the town with an older man (late 40s) hears the news that her husband's ship has been sunk in the battle for Midway. Watch this movie, as this true representation of what was happening on the home front of World War Two is played out. Does the woman whose husband is on the lost ship, do the right thing? How does the young woman whose husband left after their marriage, but before they could have any type of a honeymoon, fare compared to those ladies who were married for sometime? How does the baby turn out? Do all the husbands survive or are some lost to make this world a better and safer place for their wives and families? This is an historically accurate movie. The parts are well played, the story (stories) ring true. You will enjoy this movie, but I must warn even the most macho men, that you may find your eyes misting over on a couple of occasions, including at the very heart touching ending.