Homer Macauley (Mickey Rooney) is a teenager living in the small farming town of Ithaca, California. He gets a job delivering telegrams which includes war death notices. His older brother Marcus is off to war. Their father has been dead for two years and he looks down from heaven to narrate this movie.
That first telegram is brutal. It must have hit close to home for some in the audience. Then there is Miss Hicks' speech. This movie is dripping with Rockwellian Americana. It's the hokey vision of the promise of middle America idealism. My biggest complaint would be Rooney's age. He's in his 20's and is more fit for the Marcus role. I get why Rooney is the star but it would pack a bigger punch for a scrawny teen to play the role. The funniest scene is Ulysses getting scared by the robot. I'm not sure if the movie is trying to say something with him overcoming his fear. This movie can be heavy-handed at times like the parade of nations. The propaganda can go overboard although it probably fits the mood of the times. The sentimentality is also pushing very hard but it is what it is. The movie has a mood, a feeling, and a message which was important at that time.
That first telegram is brutal. It must have hit close to home for some in the audience. Then there is Miss Hicks' speech. This movie is dripping with Rockwellian Americana. It's the hokey vision of the promise of middle America idealism. My biggest complaint would be Rooney's age. He's in his 20's and is more fit for the Marcus role. I get why Rooney is the star but it would pack a bigger punch for a scrawny teen to play the role. The funniest scene is Ulysses getting scared by the robot. I'm not sure if the movie is trying to say something with him overcoming his fear. This movie can be heavy-handed at times like the parade of nations. The propaganda can go overboard although it probably fits the mood of the times. The sentimentality is also pushing very hard but it is what it is. The movie has a mood, a feeling, and a message which was important at that time.