1h 40min | Musical, War, Fantasy | October 1941 | Color
Director: Frank Borzage
Stars: Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne, Gene Raymond, Ian Hunter
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034203/
JM (1903-65) & GR (1908-98) were married 1937-1965 (her death), her only spouse, his 1st of 2, and this is their only film together.
Soundtracks lists 7 songs sung by JM, some in church, some at a canteen, some personal. But much less time than usual is devoted to singing, and no man sings in response. So this is non-standard for JM, and I miss the usual protocol.
The good news: this shows an individual American (GR), whose father was Brit, volunteering in the British war (WW2) effort before we were officially involved. JM acts well and a lot, as usual. But BA and IH spend the bulk of the film in old-man makeup, and I'm very aware they would not be cast in old-man roles unless we're getting a flashback where we see them at their real ages. It takes a long time to get to the fb (38 min), and it doesn't last very long (20 min). Also not great: the film is maudlin and super-sentimental, with BA longing for the JM of his youth, having let it rule his life, and trying to make it ruin the life of the modern JM (niece of his JM).
GR has the plum dual-role of father/son, both shown only at his real age. He gets opportunity to play a lot of emotions, both unhealthy (psychotic, really) and healthy (happy, sad, self-sacrificing).
MGM, dir. Borzage; 6+
