Since You Went Away (1944)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Please don't spend money on this.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

What a great movie! As a veteran of now four combat deployments in our most recent wars, I can attest to the great importance that the strength of our families on the home front has for those in the combat zone. This movie drives that point home wonderfully. We can never forget that the families of our warriors serve just as the warriors do and their love and support is critical to our success on the battlefield. Among the many very moving scenes is the one between Jennifer Jones and Monte Wooley, after the death of Robert Walker. For those of us who have had this same conversation with the loved ones of fallen soldiers, this scene rings so uncomfortably true. I recommend this movie whole-heartedly to everyone, but especially to the current generation of military families and to those who support them.

Selznick's tribute to the women on the home front during WWII is a fine piece of entertainment with a flock of excellent performances. Claudette Colbert gives the film a solid center as the sheltered, disconnected wife who slowly becomes aware of the importance of her involvement in the war effort. Shirley Temple is pert as the chipper younger daughter, however Jennifer Jones is really terrible in her early scenes, she's too old to be believable as a teen and by trying to compensate for that with preciousness she is extremely irritating. She's much better in the second part of the film when her character matures. Her scenes with Robert Walker are lovely, odd since they were married in real life and breaking up during the making of the film which he took very badly. The picture itself is quite long but once you get use to its rhythm it flows right along with some powerful scenes and beautiful imagery.

Since You Went Away, written and produced by David Selznik, and starring Claudette Colbert in an Oscar-nominated role, Jennifer Jones in a brilliant performance, and a solid cast of supporting actors that give the film great authenticity. This film was shot during WW 2 itself, and as such, has a greater feel of reality that most WW2 films made after the end of the war.Although a bit overly-sentimental in a few scenes, and a bit too long, the film still manages to hit our emotional cores with an array of issues that were prevalent during WW2. The telegram scenes, the phone calls and the work with disabled veterans all cannot fail to move the viewer. Selznik used almost his complete core of actors from Gone With the Wind to make this film, and for the most part, they clicked together again very well. The cinematography is first-rate and the dance scenes at the GI canteen are extremely impressive. The film highlights the struggles of American women and children who had to cope with long absences of their loved ones during the war. The music by Max Steiner won the Oscar for best music that year and it was well-deserved. Better bring at least two hankies for the ladies.

Like all my 10/10 movies, this one taught me something and moved me. It showed me the many facets of the home front during World War II. It touched me with sweetness, humor, tragedy, love, and hope. The film's theme echoed through every scene. I loved how the camera passed people in crowd scenes, it paused briefly to give ear to their individual lives as they spoke.And it was all so real. In this movie, there isn't that and-it-all-worked-out feel. People miss trains, romances cannot be fulfilled, triumphs are small and unglorified, loss is real, and expectations are not always fulfilled so grandly. The relationships are unique, not cliché, and very much like what you'd find in real life.Perhaps it is sappily idealistic, but I believe that ideals are what you reach up to achieve, and with movies like this, that journey is that much more inspired.