Low-key, very simple Christmas time (although the film doesn't emphasize the season so dutifully as other films set in the holiday often do) developing romantic melodrama. Ginger Rogers (her career on fire at this time) is serving time for an accidental murder (manslaughter as a struggle caused the victim to go out a 14-story window!) and given a furlough (leave for an 8-day vacation with her relatives (Spring Byington, Tom Tully, and Shirley Temple)) for the holidays. She meets Joseph Cotten, a well-decorated soldier who is currently on leave due to psychological issues stemming from WWII (early precursor to PTSD). Their problems are kept secret from each other, but the truth is bound to eventually surface.
Although O. Selznick has his name all over it, I didn't necessarily think this little film was full of bombast, pomp or circumstance. Both Rogers and Cotten deliver very subdued performances, and I think the film is all the better for it. There's no shouting matches or clinched teeth, just adults learning to grapple with the difficulties of life while falling in love with each other. I realize this might seem like a plot full of soap opera sap, but I think the characters are developed in a way that isn't too tiresome. In the vein of 40s melodramas, you could do a lot worse than this.
While Cotten is quietly dealing with demons that torment him--but doing so by not embellishing his emotional troubles as if boxing them away to deal with on his own--Rogers endures the knowledge that she is on a short trip, her sentence not yet over, and the holidays provides just a momentary release.
The film is, by and large, a romance. Shirley Temple is a teenager crazy about soldier boys, and her innocence and naïveté is rather amusing. Her mother, Byington (I know her from Werewolf of London (1935)) stays real busy around the house cooking and cleaning, as well as, managing her household. She admits in one scene that she married "down", recognizing her lot in life (kind of sad, but we see that her joy with her husband seems quite legit), to Rogers when the two talk about the past, present, and future. Rogers is the kind of actress that can make dialogue about "wanting a normal life, a family and future" when contemplating her current situation authentically without falling prey to the overwrought or turning on the waterworks too much. Cotten, even when attacked by a dog during a rather startling scene, always maintains his resolve, walking away when he gets unsettled or bothered. One key scene has him in sweats and clinched fists in room he stays temporarily. Another has the one and only Chill Wills describing a war experience and taking it to the enemy (but surrendered to a diner waiter due to a twitch) as Cotten must walk out because he can't take it anymore. Even the ending, after learning the truth from gabby Shirley and distancing himself from her due to surprise, Cotten doesn't go overboard he's silent and introspective. And when the two lovebirds finally embrace, it is nicely played in a rather modest, not overly dramatic way. Probably not the ideal "Christmas movie", but a possible treat for those who love these kinds of 40s melodrama. Good cast helps a great deal.
Although O. Selznick has his name all over it, I didn't necessarily think this little film was full of bombast, pomp or circumstance. Both Rogers and Cotten deliver very subdued performances, and I think the film is all the better for it. There's no shouting matches or clinched teeth, just adults learning to grapple with the difficulties of life while falling in love with each other. I realize this might seem like a plot full of soap opera sap, but I think the characters are developed in a way that isn't too tiresome. In the vein of 40s melodramas, you could do a lot worse than this.
While Cotten is quietly dealing with demons that torment him--but doing so by not embellishing his emotional troubles as if boxing them away to deal with on his own--Rogers endures the knowledge that she is on a short trip, her sentence not yet over, and the holidays provides just a momentary release.
The film is, by and large, a romance. Shirley Temple is a teenager crazy about soldier boys, and her innocence and naïveté is rather amusing. Her mother, Byington (I know her from Werewolf of London (1935)) stays real busy around the house cooking and cleaning, as well as, managing her household. She admits in one scene that she married "down", recognizing her lot in life (kind of sad, but we see that her joy with her husband seems quite legit), to Rogers when the two talk about the past, present, and future. Rogers is the kind of actress that can make dialogue about "wanting a normal life, a family and future" when contemplating her current situation authentically without falling prey to the overwrought or turning on the waterworks too much. Cotten, even when attacked by a dog during a rather startling scene, always maintains his resolve, walking away when he gets unsettled or bothered. One key scene has him in sweats and clinched fists in room he stays temporarily. Another has the one and only Chill Wills describing a war experience and taking it to the enemy (but surrendered to a diner waiter due to a twitch) as Cotten must walk out because he can't take it anymore. Even the ending, after learning the truth from gabby Shirley and distancing himself from her due to surprise, Cotten doesn't go overboard he's silent and introspective. And when the two lovebirds finally embrace, it is nicely played in a rather modest, not overly dramatic way. Probably not the ideal "Christmas movie", but a possible treat for those who love these kinds of 40s melodrama. Good cast helps a great deal.