WWII was a gift for unwed mothers in Hollywood pics since even ‘good girls’ ‘gave it up’ for the duration, ennobled, not ‘ignobled,’ by the gesture. And if the putative papa died while still in service, before ‘making things right,’ audiences, if not home towns, were inclined to be sympathetic. That’s the deal in this effective weepy from the fabulous Epstein twins, Julius & Philip, a romanticized declension from J. D. Salinger’s famous ‘Uncle Wiggly’ short story. (His sole Hollywood sale, and one he much regretted.) In a flashback from her miserable cover-up marriage to nice-guy Kent Smith, Susan Hayward relives her pre-war passion to flyboy Dana Andrews, the two stars generating considerable heat in some unusually racy rites of flirtation. Particularly rapturous under Lee Garmes darkened lensing, with helmer Mark Robson showing far more imagination than in later, larger pics. (A conversation seen but not heard from Hayward’s parents on a train. A love letter caught on a gust of wind. Lots more like this.) As Hayward’s college roomie/BFF, Lois Wheeler misses a chance to make a mark in a rare feature gig (producer Samuel Goldwyn failing yet again at female star grooming), but Robert Keith has a stellar turn as Hayward’s tender, worried & worrisome dad. Victor Young also came thru with an Oscar® nom’d ‘Pop’ title tune which he then plugs without mercy.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/DOUBLE-BILL: While Hayward got Oscar nom’d for almost having an out-of-wedlock child (switching saddles midstream, so to speak), Olivia de Havilland won the prize by giving hers up in TO EACH HIS OWN/’47, a fine example of the form. Modern mores have certainly laid waste to these old Hollywood tropes.
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