User Reviews

This nine-minute one scene film is a clip from the movie IT'S A BIG COUNTRY that occasionally airs as filler on Turner Classic Movies and was initially released to movie theaters as a short in advance of the film. The feature film's theme was America is a "big country", a melting pot of many people of various backgrounds and ethnicities. Marjorie Main plays Mrs. Wrenley, the mother of a dead solider who is visited by a war buddy of his (Keefe Brasselle) on leave who brings her the last letter he received from his friend. Marjorie, initially glad to meet a friend of her son turns a bit cool once she learns this solider's name is "Maxie Klein". Klein is apparently oblivious and goes on to show her the letter, reading it to her when she can't find her glasses. Mother Marjorie becomes quite moved by her son's words of tolerance and compassion and hopes that the friendship and camaraderie between Americans of all faiths and backgrounds while serving in the war will continue back on the home-front. Keefe gives Marjorie the letter and she asks for his mother's address so she can let her know what a fine son she has and asks Keefe to stop by again anytime he is in town. The tolerance story here is quite discreet; Maxie Klein is obviously Jewish and Mrs. Wrenley clearly has a touch of antisemitism about her that vanishes by the end of the visit but none of this painted in bold letters. Both stars do a fine job with this slight if important material and kudos to the producers for casting Main at the height of her Ma Kettle popularity in a dramatic part as a grieving mother. The gentle lesson of this 1951 film could still teach many today in 2006 if they have the hearts and ears to hear it.

"Letter from a Soldier" opens with a soldier knocking on a door, and says he is a friend of Mrs. Wrenley's (Marjorie Main) son, who also went off to war. She lets him in, and they talk over old times, and a letter the son had sent to "Maxie Klein" (Keefe Brasselle), who for some reason was called Joe-Joe... It's only nine minutes long, but it's such a typical scene from the post-war days when some sons came home and some didn't make it. This film-let is taken from the larger film "It's a Big Country: An American Anthology", which is composed of several short episodes of various stories. This explains the LARGE list of directors on Big Country. It's entertaining, and was probably extra meaningful to the families of soldiers during that time of the Korean War, which of course was still going on when this was released (1951). Not bad. SO similar to the WW II films from the 1940's. M.Main had made this in between Ma Kettle films. Brasselle would go on to play the starring role of Eddie Cantor, but the reviews of it are not so good. This is one of the first things directed by Don Weis, and he was still directing right up to 1990.